The extraordinary tributes paid to Bob Hawke, the longest-serving Labor Prime Minister of Australia, who died on May 16, reflect the fact that Bob Hawke was a man with the common touch, who won four elections until being deposed in a coup by his successor as Labor Prime Minister, Paul Keating.
Bob Hawke, at the time he was Prime Minister.
His popularity arose in part from his working-class background. His uncle served as a West Australian Labor Premier in the 1950s, h…
