‘Timidity is a virus’: Paul Keating fights the fading of the light as he seeks to enshrine his legacy

As a major new biography of the former prime minister goes on sale, he talks about meeting the Queen, Trump’s aims, and why his big vision will never fade

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Queen Elizabeth II met Paul Keating “alone, to her credit” in what the prime minister was informed was her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria’s, favourite room at Balmoral Castle.

“And I took some pleasure in explaining the furniture to her,” Keating recalls, an old elan breaking through.