SIR GEORGE HOUSTON REID

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Apparently this physique did not hinder him in cutting a swathe through the ladies. When old Henry Parkes, himself a noted womaniser, was asked about a beautiful woman seen in Parliament House, he replied that she must be a lady of good reputation because neither he nor George Reid knew her.

Reid earned the nickname of 'Yes-No' because of his ambivalent attitude to federation. In 1895, as Premier of New South Wales, he persuaded the other colonial premiers to submit the proposed Constitution Bill to the electorate. But when they did, he proclaimed his own party's objections to various clauses. After that he bewildered both supporters and opponents, and enhanced a reputation for cunning and opportunism, by supporting the Bill.

But his previous career had shown him to be a popular politician and reformer. Born in Scotland in 1845, one of a parson's seven children, he was brought to Australia at the age of seven. At 13 he was the office boy of a Sydney merchant. Six years later he found a job in the Colonial Treasury. Part-time law studies helped his promotion to secretary to the Attorney-General and brought admission as a barrister in 1879.

By that time Reid had chosen his political colour. He was a Free Trader, believing imports and exports should be free from the tariffs which Protectionists advocated to safeguard Australian industry. Free Traders applauded Reid's speeches and publications and in 1880 elected him to the Colonial Parliament.

Deakin later claimed that Reid, as a parliamentarian, was "inordinately vain and resolutely selfish, a consummate tactician even more cunning [than Henry Parkes] and if anything exceeding him in violence and variety of vituperation". Nevertheless, as a minister and then as Premier, Reid greatly increased the number of high schools and technical schools, aided adult education, cut government spending, reformed the land tax laws and created an independent non-political Public Service Board to administer the service. And despite his ‘Yes-No’ attitude to federation, he insisted the move should be approved by a majority of the electorate, rather than by parliamentarians alone.

It was said of Reid that he could doze off during a card game, but snap awake with instant recollection of every card that had been played. Such quick reactions must have been invaluable during the jockeying for power in the first Commonwealth parliaments, in which Reid was Leader of the Free Trade Opposition. In 1904, he allied twice with a group of Protectionists, first to tip out Deakin and then to overwhelm Watson. The latter move put the Free Traders into power, with Reid as Prime Minister. He soon plotted what was known as the ‘fusion’ of the two conservative parties in the hope of destroying Labor as a political entity.

His first move was to appoint Allan McLean, a Protectionist, as Treasurer. His administration was often referred to as the Reid-McLean government. But it was a flimsy alliance because Reid had no firm policy apart from waving the anti-socialist banner and securing the passage of legislation already before the House. During his first month of government, his party narrowly survived a no-confidence motion. Its only significant achievement was to allow the Conciliation and Arbitration Bill to ‘drift’ onto the statute books with a few minor amendments.

Deakin was sharpening a knife for Reid and, in July 1905, he used Labor support to cut him out of power. From that moment on, Reid lost much of his interest in federal politics, apart from supporting the closer alliance of Free Trade and Protectionists. He left most of the work of Leader of the Opposition to his lieutenant, Joseph Cook, while he concentrated on his legal practice.

He retired from Parliament in 1908 and in 1910 accepted appointment as Australia's first High Commissioner in London.

Reid filled this office with great aplomb and efficiency and soon gained entry into London society. He became particularly popular as an after-dinner speaker. During the First World War, his wife was a dedicated worker for Australian servicemen on leave or in hospital in London. In 1916 Andrew Fisher replaced him as High Commissioner but, by that time, Reid was so well established in Britain that the Liberal Party offered him a 'safe' seat in the House of Commons. He held the seat until his death in 1918, the only Australian ever to have sat in the Colonial, Commonwealth and Westminster Parliaments.

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