Over decades, disappointed Labor leaning historians and commentators looked back on the federal election of 1954 and claimed Robert Menzies had “pulled a rabbit out of his hat” to gain advantage against Labor in an election campaign Labor had seemed likely to win.
On April 13, 1954, just weeks before voting day on May 29, Menzies announced in the House of Representatives that the Third Secretary and Consul in the Soviet Embassy in Canberra, Vladimir Petrov, had defected and had requested through ASIO to be given political asylum.
