In a life packed with success, it was the sweetest moment. The ballroom at Sydney's Four Seasons hotel was full of friends, supporters, admirers, colleagues, supplicants, lobbyists and journalists. "Tony, Tony, Tony," many were chanting.

Then he emerged. Anthony John Abbott. Monarchist. Rhodes scholar. Trainee priest. Amateur boxer. Professional pugilist. He had just demolished the man who had been, for a while, the most popular prime minister in Australian history, Kevin Rudd. On September 7, 2013, Abbott won power for the Liberal-National Coalition, which received 5.9 million votes, 1.6 million more than the shattered Labor Party.