Queen’s letter key to mystery of PM’S sacking

THE eldest son of Gough Whitlam, the former Australian prime minister, is fighting to have private letters between the Queen and her Australia representative released, which could reveal for the first time how much Buckingham Palace knew in advance of the Labor leader’s sensational sacking in 1975.

Antony Whitlam is fighting in a Sydney court to have the document’s personal status removed, which would lead to their immediate release.

The Palace has long been suspected of closer involvement in “the Dismissal”, as the episode is known, when Mr Whitlam was removed from office by the Queen’s representative, Sir John Kerr. The governor-general sacked the prime minister in order to break a parliamentary deadlock, after the opposition used its Senate control to block supply bills, crippling the government.

Sir John installed opposition leader Malcolm Fraser as a caretaker prime minister. Weeks later, Mr Fraser’s coalition won fresh elections.