Former leader of the Australian Labor Party and potential Prime Minister, Mark Latham, is publishing his memoirs. After a vigorous bidding war, Melbourne University Press (MUP) will be releasing the diaries in October. Promising vitriol against Labor and the media, Latham’s book has been described by MUP CEO Louise Adler as, “an intoxicating cocktail” and “letters from the trenches”.
$150,000 is the rumoured price for the work, although this figure is unconfirmed. I’ve never been a strong supporter of Latham or the Labor party, but a tell-all memoir may be just what the party needs to shock it out of its entrenched conservatism. We can only hope.
(Disclosure: MUP is publishing my book on the Israel/Palestine conflict in 2006.)