num_pages: 382
description: Graham Richardson does not pull any punches as he tells of his life in the Australian Labor Party. In a direct conversational style filled with enthusiasm, he brings politics to life. There is tension, drama and humour as he relates his own successes and mistakes, and reveals the real people behind the political masks.From his early days in the party and the 'Whitlam rollercoaster' to the Keating-Hawke challenge Whatever It Takes is an insider's story, filled with political strategies, the ruthless application of decisions, witty character descriptions and a memorable collection of political wisdom.Born into a political household, Graham Richardson learned three lessons from his parents that formed his political foundations: Loyalty is all; If they rat on you once they'll rat on you twice; and, that when dealing with the Left… be very, very careful.At seventeen he joined the Labor Party and it quickly became the focus and passion of his life. He soon discovered the powerbrokers in the NSW Right and apprenticed himself to learn from these men, some of the toughest in the Labor Party. With hard work he started to 'bring in numbers' and so began an extremely successful, pragmatic and colourful career that took him from branch member to the Cabinet and ultimately on to become one of the Labor Party's key figures during a record term in government.Whatever It Takes is a personal story of public drama, of loyalty and friendships and government lost and won—it is, above all, the story of the accumulation and exercise of power.
language: English
title: Whatever it takes
titlecomplete: Whatever it takes
genres: Biography, Politics, Nonfiction, Australia
ratings_count: 37
publisher: Bantam Books