10 Facts About Angus Innes

John Angus Mackenzie Innes was born on 22 May 1939 and was a Queensland politician and leader of the state Liberal Party.

Progressive by nature, Angus Innes had little time for the conservative social policies of the National-dominated government, even though under the coalition agreement between the Nationals and the Liberals, he was nominally a government backbencher.

Angus Innes became associated with a faction within the parliamentary Liberal Party dubbed by the media as the "ginger group", who frequently criticised government policy.

Angus Innes did not agree with Edwards' assessment, and went as far as challenging Edwards' leadership of the party from the backbench.

At that spill, Angus Innes replaced Sam Doumany as deputy leader.

When Bjelke-Petersen refused to appoint White as deputy premier, he and Angus Innes pulled the Liberals out of the Coalition and led them to the crossbenches.

White and Angus Innes were the only members of the "ginger group" to retain their seats.

Angus Innes was reelected in 1986, helped by the fact that his National opponent forgot to submit the required paperwork in time.

Angus Innes hoped to recover some ground, but was well aware that if the Nationals lost significant ground in South East Queensland, many seats that could have theoretically been within striking distance for the Liberals could fall to Labor.

Angus Innes himself was nearly swept up in this massive Labor wave; his majority in Sherwood plunged from a comfortably safe 17.7 percent to a marginal 3.9 percent.