Paul Keating never wrote a memoir. He has plenty of stories to tell, opinions to share and publishers who’d jump at the chance to help. Whenever the old feud between Keating and his predecessor Bob Hawke reignited, as it occasionally did, the latter wielded the prospect of a memoir like a dangerous weapon.
In 2010, Hawke’s wife Blanche d'Alpuget published a book about him – her second Hawke biography – which Keating felt painted him in a poor light. “If I get around to writing a book,” he told the media in response, “I will be telling the truth; the whole truth.”
