Gorton with William McMahon shortly after the unsuccessful leadership challenge.
The election on 7 November was set for 10 a.m., but delayed by an hour as five MPs travelling from Melbourne were delayed by a faulty aircraft. With Speaker William Aston presiding, the 65 members of the Liberal partyroom took 49 minutes to elect a leader. Gorton won an absolute majority on the first ballot, but the final results were kept secret, with the ballot papers burnt immediately after being tallied.[4]Alan Reid of The Daily Telegraph estimated Gorton had won 34 votes,[3] while The Canberra Times estimated 38 votes;[4] Gorton's supporters claimed up to 40 votes.[3] The deputy leadership was also declared vacant, and McMahon was re-elected over Immigration Minister Billy Snedden and Postmaster-General Alan Hulme with about 35 votes, with Snedden receiving the majority of the rest.[4]
After the challenge, Fairbairn resigned from cabinet and McMahon was demoted to Minister for External Affairs. Gorton resigned in March 1971 after a vote of confidence in his leadership was tied 33-33, and McMahon won the subsequent leadership contest against Billy Snedden.[3]
Referencesedit
^Struggle for PM's post sharpens, The Canberra Times, 3 November 1969.
^McMahon in race for P.M., The Canberra Times, 4 November 1969.
^ abcdSummer of ’69: lessons from a Liberal spill, Crikey, 2 February 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
^ abcResult a secret, The Canberra Times, 8 November 1969.
External linksedit
Interview with John Gorton the day after the leadership challenge
January 01, 1970
1969, liberal, party, australia, leadership, spill, liberal, party, australia, held, leadership, spill, november, 1969, following, party, poor, performance, federal, election, october, prime, minister, john, gorton, elected, party, leader, defeating, challenge. The Liberal Party of Australia held a leadership spill on 7 November 1969 following the party s poor performance at the federal election on 25 October Prime Minister John Gorton was re elected as the party s leader defeating challengers William McMahon and David Fairbairn Liberal Party of Australialeadership spill 1969 1968 7 November 1969 1971 Candidate John Gorton William McMahon David Fairbairn First Ballot 34 40 est 20 25 est 5 6 est Seat Higgins Vic Lowe NSW Farrer NSW Leader before election John Gorton Elected Leader John Gorton Contents 1 Background 2 Candidates 3 Election 4 Results 4 1 Leadership ballot 4 2 Deputy leadership ballot 5 Aftermath 6 References 7 External linksBackground editThe Liberal Country coalition lost a combined 16 seats at the 1969 federal election and the Labor Party under Gough Whitlam won the two party preferred vote On 2 November National Development Minister David Fairbairn announced his intention to challenge Gorton for the leadership of the Liberal Party 1 He was joined the following day by Treasurer William McMahon who had been deputy leader since 1966 2 Deputy Prime Minister John McEwen the leader of the Country Party announced that his party was willing to work with any of the three candidates this lifted the veto he had applied to McMahon at the previous leadership ballot in January 1968 3 Candidates editDavid Fairbairn Minister for National Development Member for Farrer John Gorton incumbent Leader Prime Minister of Australia Member for Higgins William McMahon incumbent Deputy Leader Treasurer of Australia Member for LoweElection edit nbsp Gorton with William McMahon shortly after the unsuccessful leadership challenge The election on 7 November was set for 10 a m but delayed by an hour as five MPs travelling from Melbourne were delayed by a faulty aircraft With Speaker William Aston presiding the 65 members of the Liberal partyroom took 49 minutes to elect a leader Gorton won an absolute majority on the first ballot but the final results were kept secret with the ballot papers burnt immediately after being tallied 4 Alan Reid of The Daily Telegraph estimated Gorton had won 34 votes 3 while The Canberra Times estimated 38 votes 4 Gorton s supporters claimed up to 40 votes 3 The deputy leadership was also declared vacant and McMahon was re elected over Immigration Minister Billy Snedden and Postmaster General Alan Hulme with about 35 votes with Snedden receiving the majority of the rest 4 Results editLiberal Party of Australia deputy leadership ballot 1969 nbsp 19661971 Mar nbsp nbsp nbsp Candidate William McMahon Billy Snedden Alan Hulme Caucus vote gt 33 lt 33 lt 33Deputy Leader before election William McMahon Elected Deputy Leader William McMahon The following table gives the ballot result Leadership ballot edit Name Votes Percentage John Gorton 34 40 est William McMahon 20 25 est David Fairbairn 5 6 est Deputy leadership ballot edit Name Final ballot Percentage William McMahon gt 33 Billy Snedden lt 33 Alan Hulme lt 33Aftermath editAfter the challenge Fairbairn resigned from cabinet and McMahon was demoted to Minister for External Affairs Gorton resigned in March 1971 after a vote of confidence in his leadership was tied 33 33 and McMahon won the subsequent leadership contest against Billy Snedden 3 References edit Struggle for PM s post sharpens The Canberra Times 3 November 1969 McMahon in race for P M The Canberra Times 4 November 1969 a b c d Summer of 69 lessons from a Liberal spill Crikey 2 February 2015 Retrieved 5 November 2017 a b c Result a secret The Canberra Times 8 November 1969 External links editInterview with John Gorton the day after the leadership challenge Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 1969 Liberal Party of Australia leadership spill amp oldid 1155865438, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
