Margaret Pope tells of Labour split

One of the insiders of the Lange/Douglas administration, Margaret Pope, has spoken out for the first time about the life of the fourth Labour Government.

Prime Minister David Lange and Finance Minister Roger Douglas oversaw a tumultuous period in New Zealand's political history in the 1980s.

Ms Pope became Mr Lange's second wife after he divorced Naomi Lange.

The fourth Labour Government brought in New Zealand's nuclear-free laws, and free-market reforms which created infighting that brought the Government's collapse.

Ms Pope told National Radio in her first interview about the period that Labour was not ready to take office when it won the snap election called by National premier Sir Robert Muldoon in 1984.

"A lot was left unprepared simply because of the way in which the election was called," she said.

Ms Pope said many Labour supporters felt betrayed by the direction of the Government under Mr Lange, but it wasn't reasonable to say there were acts of betrayal.

"It wasn't done cynically. It wasn't done with a sense of 'okay now we are in office let's fix these people'. It happened as a result of various influences, various forces, various crises."

In reflection there was a "great deal of irony" about the 1984 election, as it was fought on a platform of consensus but in the end Labour practised the opposite.

The relationship between Mr Lange and Sir Roger had been the key to the whole administration.

"He [Mr Lange] certainly relied upon him. He admired his abilities, he trusted his judgment.

"He saw Roger as the ideal manager of finance and he was greatly disappointed in what happened afterwards."

The two had complemented each other, because Mr Lange had the political skills and charisma to sell Labour's policies.

Ms Pope said the two began to disagree as early as 1986 as they tried to ensure the new economy did not create too many casualties.

In March 1987, Mr Lange was "unsettled" by Sir Roger proposing "what would be the full-blown Act party agenda", Ms Pope said.

Mr Douglas wanted a flat tax rate of 15 per cent, GST at 15 per cent and wide-ranging privatisation of Government services.

"David, when he saw it, was quite astonished. That is putting it mildly, he was staggered. I think it was at that point he stopped trusting Roger."

The election campaign fought during that period had on "the surface" been a tremendous success, but the joy had gone for Mr Lange because of the internal disputes.

After the 1987 election, Mr Lange tried to contain Sir Roger with a Cabinet reshuffle, but the stockmarket crash allowed the finance minister to portray the December 1987 package as a response to crisis.

Mr Lange's call for everyone to take a pause and have "a cup of tea" in 1988 had heralded open war between the factions.

She said Mr Lange had made peace with many of the colleagues with whom he had fought, but not with Sir Roger.

Pope and Lange

* Margaret Pope was an adviser and speech writer to then PM.

* She and Mr Lange married after he divorced his first wife, Naomi.

* The couple have a daughter, Edith

- NZPA