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War of the First Ladies

Roger Maynard

Sydney: It is being dubbed the war of the First Ladies — an unseemly row sparked by comments about the Australian Prime Minister John Howard's wife by one of her predecessors. According to a new biography, Margaret Whitlam described the current First Lady as useless, humourless and mean spirited. Janette Howard even insisted on holding her husband's hand, observed the 86-year-old wife of the former Labour Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, who won power in the 1970s. She did not stop there. Ms. Howard was weird, steely and did not do enough for charity, Ms. Whitlam stated. By Thursday night an uneasy truce had been declared, after Ms. Whitlam said that the comments were made several years ago and she had since changed her opinion. But she stopped short of a public apology. —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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