Sir John Gorton, the 19th Prime Minister of Australia, was ousted by his own party colleagues in 1971, after two years in office. An Oxford-educated farmer and war-wounded fighter pilot, he was a larrikin never accepted by the Liberal Party establishment who seized on scandals to undermine him. But he was also outgunned by powerful bodies in Washington and London who opposed his bid to build independent relationships for Australia in Asia. In A Coup in Canberra Alex Mitchell for the first time presents the international context of Gorton’s story, and reveals hidden forces still at work in Australian politics today.