'One of my favourite stories concerns two Liberal Party politicians, both of whom were later knighted. One of them was arguably Australia's most hopeless and devious prime minister, William ("Billy") McMahon. He was in office from March 1971 until December 1972, when the coalition lost office to Labor under Gough Whitlam - who had famously described McMahon as "Tiberius with a telephone". The second was James ("Jim") Killen, who liked more than an odd beer on a hot day and had served as Minister for the Navy under John Gorton. When McMahon became PM, he dropped Killen from the ministry.' (Introduction)