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Working with David: Inside the Lange Cabinet
David Lange's Fourth Labour Government was a watershed in New Zealand history. Whether it was international politics (ANZUS, Mururoa tests, Oxford Union debate) or domestic economics (Roger Douglas's reforms), New Zealand was a vastly different country in 1990 than it had been when Lange won in 1984. The real story of this time has never been told until now, and Lange's own bestselling autobiography was disappointing in the lack of detail it contained. Written by Lange's cousin, and senior cabinet minister in that Government, Michael Bassett, here is the "inside the cabinet room" view of some of the most heady and turbulent times in recent history. Bassett writes of the real David Lange, a hugely gifted but hugely flawed politician, with his gift of communicating to the public but an inability to lead his own cabinet. Based on diaries kept at the time, private papers, and extensive interviews, Working with David brings together political drama and history, written by a participant who just happens to be a trained historian and a gifted writer.
- GenresPolitics
616 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 26, 2019
This book is very useful in understanding NZ's fourth Labour government, led by David Lange, then Geoffrey Palmer and Mike Moore. It unravels great detail about important concepts and events, such as Rogernomics, income negotiation, historic roles of unions, floating currency, privatisation (notably of Air NZ and Telecom), etc.
Here is the picture I get from the book:
Initially everything seemed fine. As a law graduate, blessed with debating talent, Lange was a new star. His witty quotes and humour won him support from the media and public, and therefore a big election win for labour. In the first term, his cabinet did deliver, after taking over a sluggish economy. Rogernomics, featured with privitisation, controlled spending and flexible currency regime, brought some surplus and reduced the inflation.
However, the successful re-election made Lange far less determined in reform. With neither attention to detail nor a sufficiently disciplined commitment, coupled with a deviation from his original policies as well as allies, Lange gradually became lackluster. Then came the part that I mostly wanted to skip, because I would rather carefully examine what policies/actions/reforms resulted in economic/social improvement and in what way, rather than how a government could go wrong. At some point, the description of Lange reminded me of Trump.
The biggest lesson is that the disputes/collisions within the leadership can jeopardise public trust. It makes sense that Helen Clark, as a witness of that tragedy, put tremendous effort in avoiding PM-Finance Minister disagreement and restoring political trust when she later took office.
Overall, I would recommend this memoir to those who wanted to be more familiar about NZ history. It was not the best in terms of writing, but definitely provided abundant materials for both research and leisurely read. Of course, it is a good 500-page, so I felt pretty done with political reading for a while after this.
Here is the picture I get from the book:
Initially everything seemed fine. As a law graduate, blessed with debating talent, Lange was a new star. His witty quotes and humour won him support from the media and public, and therefore a big election win for labour. In the first term, his cabinet did deliver, after taking over a sluggish economy. Rogernomics, featured with privitisation, controlled spending and flexible currency regime, brought some surplus and reduced the inflation.
However, the successful re-election made Lange far less determined in reform. With neither attention to detail nor a sufficiently disciplined commitment, coupled with a deviation from his original policies as well as allies, Lange gradually became lackluster. Then came the part that I mostly wanted to skip, because I would rather carefully examine what policies/actions/reforms resulted in economic/social improvement and in what way, rather than how a government could go wrong. At some point, the description of Lange reminded me of Trump.
The biggest lesson is that the disputes/collisions within the leadership can jeopardise public trust. It makes sense that Helen Clark, as a witness of that tragedy, put tremendous effort in avoiding PM-Finance Minister disagreement and restoring political trust when she later took office.
Overall, I would recommend this memoir to those who wanted to be more familiar about NZ history. It was not the best in terms of writing, but definitely provided abundant materials for both research and leisurely read. Of course, it is a good 500-page, so I felt pretty done with political reading for a while after this.
March 21, 2022
Absolutely essential reading for anyone wanting to get under the skin of this tumultuous period of New Zealand politics.
It's basically a nice big block of knowledge (and it's begging to be read). Any biases Bassett may have had, being a Minister in the government depicted, have to answer to the thorough research which fits within the book. This has got to be the crowning jewel of Bassett's extensive works in this field - and deservedly so.
It's basically a nice big block of knowledge (and it's begging to be read). Any biases Bassett may have had, being a Minister in the government depicted, have to answer to the thorough research which fits within the book. This has got to be the crowning jewel of Bassett's extensive works in this field - and deservedly so.
September 22, 2022
A labororius and repetitive read at times but mainly a lost opportunity, especially with all the first hand material available, to write an objective account of the Lange years and the 4th Labour Government in New Zealand.
Gordon Campbell's review when the book was published pretty much sums up my own conclusions but with the added comment that Bassett’s obsession with those who disagreed with his own viewpoint and that of the inner cabinet and eventually Lange, at the expense of exploring the different viewpoints in the context of economic upheaval and social reforms, compromises this books standing as a balanced or indeed a complete and reliable record of that period.
An example is the many unflattering references devoted to Jim Anderton in the initial stages for not believing Lange was up to the task of replacing Bill Rowling as Leader - despite the fact that Labour handsomely won the popular vote under Rowling in both 1978 and 1981 and was only defeated by the now outdated FFP and would have arguably become the PM in 1984. Ironically as the book develops we find from Bassett himself that Lange failed not only the makings of a PM but also a cabinet minister and the second half of his tenure was largely about how the cabinet tried to be quit of him and unconditionally support Douglas.
The bottom line of course is that Lange was nominated for the top job largely for his rhetorical skills which even Bassett describes eventually as becoming on occasions cringe worthy and lacking any real substance, which indeed many thought from the outset. His unsuitability for the job enabled Douglas et al to easily hijack their leader way from Labour principles and when the likes of Anderton tried to remind them of these he was promptly barred from Caucus - today we would say cancelled - for challenging the direction of the right wing agenda enthusiastically pursued by the loyalists to Douglas.
Even Clark and Cullen are amongst those who come in for indignation and it is perhaps poignant to note that it was Clark, Anderton and Cullen who lead the way to pulling the country back to some degree of social recovery a decade later after Rogernomics laid the groundwork for Ruthenomics and the subsequent like-minded National Government who couldn't believe their luck and simply carried on the policies of their predecessors for another nine years.
What this book displays is how the 4th Labour Government had the support of their Leader until he thought that economic policy was being pursued excessively at the expense of a coherent social policy, at which stage it was a case of “ … if you’re not for us David you’re against us.” Some would say that the cabinet for some time up until then had been using their leader and the Labour Party to achieve its own ends contrary to any policy direction the party was elected in on in 1984. Bassett often says it was not clear what Lange was thinking and yet from this book it was quite clear what his concerns were and his cabinet was not prepared to take any notice nor challenge Douglas on his long term objectives and the social impact of his economic direction.
Bassett does not describe the adverse effect on many people in New Zealand which was well described by Bryan Edwards in his newspaper columns of the day, not to mention the number of suicides caused by these rapid economic disruptions in the rural community. All it describes is the bull headedness of its cabinet and ineffectiveness to look at the broader picture – Bassett should have spent less time on his daily note taking and looked around him more - and reluctance to challenge and get more in behind their leader in the context of the direction it was taking.
The period especially in the latter term turned out therefore to be a shambles and Bassett looks for blame anywhere but himself and his colleagues for the downfall of the 4th Labour Government, not to mention the crises in so many different areas that followed well into and beyond the following decade – remember leaky buildings (Margaret Austin's Bill) anyone, the bail out of Air NZ and the buy-back of railways? As I mentioned above this book is a wasted opportunity to explore the policies and various viewpoints at the time in depth to be objectively informative or to allow students of today to be able to come to any balanced conclusions from that period, but is probably more notable for its attack on those who firstly did not favour Lange to be leader and subsequently the derision poured out on the likes of Lange’s advisor and confidant Margaret Pope and others who were not on fully on board for the Douglas agenda. Rob Muldoon quipped once that Bassett was the only person he knew who could eat a banana sideways – perhaps this developed new meaning to explain the side comments continuously spurned throughout the book against his colleagues and former colleagues, including Lange himself, should they dare to disagree with any of the viewpoints and momentum he supported throughout this period.
As a footnote, Jim Anderton opined that the book should have been entitled "Working Against David" which is perhaps the most apt response to describe this hefty work by Michael Bassett.
Gordon Campbell's review when the book was published pretty much sums up my own conclusions but with the added comment that Bassett’s obsession with those who disagreed with his own viewpoint and that of the inner cabinet and eventually Lange, at the expense of exploring the different viewpoints in the context of economic upheaval and social reforms, compromises this books standing as a balanced or indeed a complete and reliable record of that period.
An example is the many unflattering references devoted to Jim Anderton in the initial stages for not believing Lange was up to the task of replacing Bill Rowling as Leader - despite the fact that Labour handsomely won the popular vote under Rowling in both 1978 and 1981 and was only defeated by the now outdated FFP and would have arguably become the PM in 1984. Ironically as the book develops we find from Bassett himself that Lange failed not only the makings of a PM but also a cabinet minister and the second half of his tenure was largely about how the cabinet tried to be quit of him and unconditionally support Douglas.
The bottom line of course is that Lange was nominated for the top job largely for his rhetorical skills which even Bassett describes eventually as becoming on occasions cringe worthy and lacking any real substance, which indeed many thought from the outset. His unsuitability for the job enabled Douglas et al to easily hijack their leader way from Labour principles and when the likes of Anderton tried to remind them of these he was promptly barred from Caucus - today we would say cancelled - for challenging the direction of the right wing agenda enthusiastically pursued by the loyalists to Douglas.
Even Clark and Cullen are amongst those who come in for indignation and it is perhaps poignant to note that it was Clark, Anderton and Cullen who lead the way to pulling the country back to some degree of social recovery a decade later after Rogernomics laid the groundwork for Ruthenomics and the subsequent like-minded National Government who couldn't believe their luck and simply carried on the policies of their predecessors for another nine years.
What this book displays is how the 4th Labour Government had the support of their Leader until he thought that economic policy was being pursued excessively at the expense of a coherent social policy, at which stage it was a case of “ … if you’re not for us David you’re against us.” Some would say that the cabinet for some time up until then had been using their leader and the Labour Party to achieve its own ends contrary to any policy direction the party was elected in on in 1984. Bassett often says it was not clear what Lange was thinking and yet from this book it was quite clear what his concerns were and his cabinet was not prepared to take any notice nor challenge Douglas on his long term objectives and the social impact of his economic direction.
Bassett does not describe the adverse effect on many people in New Zealand which was well described by Bryan Edwards in his newspaper columns of the day, not to mention the number of suicides caused by these rapid economic disruptions in the rural community. All it describes is the bull headedness of its cabinet and ineffectiveness to look at the broader picture – Bassett should have spent less time on his daily note taking and looked around him more - and reluctance to challenge and get more in behind their leader in the context of the direction it was taking.
The period especially in the latter term turned out therefore to be a shambles and Bassett looks for blame anywhere but himself and his colleagues for the downfall of the 4th Labour Government, not to mention the crises in so many different areas that followed well into and beyond the following decade – remember leaky buildings (Margaret Austin's Bill) anyone, the bail out of Air NZ and the buy-back of railways? As I mentioned above this book is a wasted opportunity to explore the policies and various viewpoints at the time in depth to be objectively informative or to allow students of today to be able to come to any balanced conclusions from that period, but is probably more notable for its attack on those who firstly did not favour Lange to be leader and subsequently the derision poured out on the likes of Lange’s advisor and confidant Margaret Pope and others who were not on fully on board for the Douglas agenda. Rob Muldoon quipped once that Bassett was the only person he knew who could eat a banana sideways – perhaps this developed new meaning to explain the side comments continuously spurned throughout the book against his colleagues and former colleagues, including Lange himself, should they dare to disagree with any of the viewpoints and momentum he supported throughout this period.
As a footnote, Jim Anderton opined that the book should have been entitled "Working Against David" which is perhaps the most apt response to describe this hefty work by Michael Bassett.
March 13, 2013
I enjoyed this book. Although Bassett is a historian he wrote this from a more personal perspective. It is important because its one of the most reflective and detailed 'inside stories' that I have read. Its also a valuable resource in researching and understanding the impact of the 1980s in New Zealand, a period that will almost certainly garner considerable interest from historians over the years. It is difficult not to be partisan in assessing the value and impact of what happened during those years, and although I initially resisted the term I think revolutionary is appropriate.
My only caution is that readers should probably explore other accounts of the period to gain different perspectives on aspects such as the rise of the financial sector (not all healthy for New Zealand), differing assessments of the merits and methods of asset sales (telecommunications for example handed a monopoly to a private operator which has done a lot of damage over the years) and to gain a broader understanding of the benefits and costs of this process of reform which continued after the end of this book.
The family history at the beginning may not be interesting to all readers, but overall the detail, personality assessments and even the photographs make this a good read.
My only caution is that readers should probably explore other accounts of the period to gain different perspectives on aspects such as the rise of the financial sector (not all healthy for New Zealand), differing assessments of the merits and methods of asset sales (telecommunications for example handed a monopoly to a private operator which has done a lot of damage over the years) and to gain a broader understanding of the benefits and costs of this process of reform which continued after the end of this book.
The family history at the beginning may not be interesting to all readers, but overall the detail, personality assessments and even the photographs make this a good read.
August 20, 2015
Bassett is a far cry from my politics and his views definitely colour the picture he creates through his book substantially. However, it is still a very detailed and interesting account of done of the events which took place during the Fourth Labour Government.
October 20, 2015
Fantastic look into the Fourth Labour Government and the man who headed it.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews