Andrew Peacock
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Andrew Sharp Peacock (born 13 February 1939), Australian Liberal politician, was born in Melbourne, Victoria, the son of a wealthy company director. He was educated at an elite school and at the University of Melbourne, where he graduated in law. He practised law in Melbourne while making a rapid advance in the Liberal Party. He was president of the Young Liberals in 1962, and in 1963 he married Susan Rossiter, daughter of a Liberal MP. They had three daughters. By 1965 he was President of the Victorian Liberal Party. Young, handsome and articulate, he seemed destined for greatness, a view he undoubtedly shared.
In 1966 Sir Robert Menzies retired and Peacock succeeded him as MP for Kooyong, in Melbourne's wealthy eastern suburbs. In 1969 he was appointed Minister for the Army, and in this role played a minor part in the drama which brought down Prime Minister John Gorton in 1971. In 1972 William McMahon made him Minister for Territories, in charge of Australia's colonial possession, Papua New Guinea, where he tried to modernise the administration.
When the Liberals went into opposition in December 1972, Peacock became a senior member of the Liberal frontbench. As a party moderate, he was a supporter of the new leader, Billy Snedden. When Snedden lost the 1974 election, Peacock began to be seen as a leadership candidate, but it was Malcolm Fraser who took the initiative and deposed Snedden in 1975. Fraser made Peacock foreign affairs spokesperson, and when Fraser led the Liberals back to power in December 1975 he became Foreign Minister, aged 36.
Peacock served as Foreign Minister until 1980, acquiring a reputation as an international playboy, particularly through his well-publicised relationship with Shirley MacLaine (his marriage had by this time ended in divorce). He had a number of acrimonious disputes with Fraser, particularly over the recognition of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. After the 1980 election he asked for a change of portfolio, and Fraser made him Minister for Industrial Relations. In April 1981 he suddenly resigned, accusing Fraser of constant interference in his portfolio. Fraser called a party meeting and defeated Peacock's challenge to his leadership.
In November 1982 when Sir Phillip Lynch resigned from politics, John Howard succeeded him as Deputy Leader, and Peacock was brought back into cabinet as Minister for Industry and Commerce. Fraser's government was defeated in March 1983 by the Labor Party under Bob Hawke, and Peacock contested the party leadership after Fraser's resignation. He defeated Howard, who as Fraser's Treasurer and deputy had to share responsibility for the government's defeat. Howard remained as Deputy Leader.
As Opposition Leader Peacock faced an uphill battle against the hugely popular Hawke. At the 1984 election he was given no chance of winning, and in fact he performed better than expected by reducing Hawke's majority. Nevertheless the conservative faction of the party led by Howard now began to plot against Peacock. In September 1985, Peacock tried to engineer Howard's replacement as Deputy Leader by John Moore, but the manoeuvre backfired when the party room supported Howard, and Peacock was forced to resign. Howard then assumed the leadership and appointed Peacock shadow Foreign Minister.
Howard lost the 1987 election to Hawke, and Peacock was elected Deputy Leader in a show of party unity. But Peacock's supporters began to plot against Howard, and in May 1989 they mounted a party room coup which returned Peacock to the leadership. Peacock, now 50, cultivated a new mature image, enhanced by a second marriage to Margaret St George. Hawke's aggressive Treasurer, Paul Keating, ridiculed him by asking: "Can the soufflé rise twice?" and calling him "all feathers and no meat." Although Hawke's government was in political trouble, with record high interest rates and a financial crisis in Victoria, Peacock failed to defeat Hawke at the 1990 elections.
Peacock resigned after the elections. He became Shadow Attorney General (1990-92) and Shadow Trade Minister (1992-93) under the new leader, Dr John Hewson. He returned to Foreign Affairs when Hewson, lost the 1993 election to Keating. He retained Foreign Affairs when Hewson was displaced by Alexander Downer. In September 1994, however, Peacock recognised that his time in politics was up, and resigned from Parliament. When Howard became Prime Minister in 1996, he appointed Peacock Ambassador to the United States, where he was extremely popular. Since the end of this appointment Peacock has largely lived in the US. In 2002 he married Penne Percy Korth, a Washington, D.C. society figure and former Ambassador. He is currently chairman of Boeing Australia, Ltd.
| Preceded by: Malcolm Fraser | Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia 1983–1985 | Succeeded by: John Howard |
| Preceded by: John Howard | Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia 1989–1990 | Succeeded by: John Hewson |
| Preceded by: Don Willesee | Minister for Foreign Affairs 1975–1980 | Succeeded by: Tony Street |