Michael Bassett and Working with David-WRCC Breakfast

Scoopit!

Adam had meant to post on his attendance at the WRCC Breakfast with Michael Bassett yesterday evening, but he had had rather a long day.

Anyway, hastened into town early in the morning, arriving at the railway station at about 6.25 am. At that time of morning did not seem to be many coffee shops open, but got a rather average flat white at Starbucks in the Old Bank Building on Lambton Quay at around 6:40 am. Drank that and read the Dominion Post then on to the Majestic Centre for the breakfast. Got to the 28th floor around 7:10 am and saw the dawn break over the Harbour, fantastic views.

Was somewhat surprised that there were only around 45 to 50 people there for the event. Saw a few recognisable faces David Farrar, Fran O’Sullivan, John Bishop, Barrie Saunders amongst the audience.

John Lumsden, President of the Chamber introduced Michael Bassett, who then spoke about the book, his time in politics and various aspects of David Lange’s Prime Ministership.

Some of what he said has been covered in various media reports, such as the Sunday Star Times.

What came across very clearly to Adam is that Dr Bassett did not rate Lange very highly as a leader. Indeed at one point in his talk he referred rather acerbicly to Saint David, suggesting to Adam that in Bassett’s view Lange had become a totem or talisman to some in the Labour Party and indeed in the country, when such veneration was undeserved.

Dr Bassett said that he saw Lange primarily as a salesman for policy which was determined by others, a brilliant salesman, but not a thinker or strategist. He described passages of Lange’s book My Life as fictional rather than factual.In fact he probably saw Lange as rather a light weight, perhaps one who has been imbued over time with qualities and skills that he in fact did not have.

It is clear that he regards Margaret Pope with absolutely no fondness, more than once referring to Shakespeare’s Hamlet and the pouring of poison on the ear, i.e using her closeness to Lange to sway his actions. Clearly with negative consequences from Bassett’s perspective.

One anecdote he told with a considerable amount of relish was how in early 1990 a number of senior people in the Labour Party wanted Roger Douglas to return to government and emissaries were sent to ask him to come back, to see if he could help save the failing government. One of the emissaries was one Helen Elizabeth Clark.

Some time was spent talking about just how ill Lange was at various times and the fact that the ‘barons’ went to considerable effort to protect him, as others had done with Kirk before him. It is interesting that there a number of precedents for this – including Woodrow Wilson in the US and Churchill in the 1950s to note just two parallels.

Adam was struck by the reference to ‘barons’ and wondered whether Dr Bassett to some extent saw the Lange Cabinet as somewhat of a mediaeval court, with Lange as the figurehead king, surrounded, supported and manipulated by coteries of powerful ministers such as Douglas, Prebble, Caygill and others.

It is clear that Bassett believes that much of New Zealand’s relative prosperity in recent years, as compared to earlier periods, rather than as compared to other countries is due to the legacy of the work done by Roger Douglas and Richard Prebble. He certainly does not seem to recall Helen Clark as being other than supportive of these initiatives at the time.

Asked whether he thought some politicians still on the scene had anything to worry about from the book, he was elliptical saying that the reader could draw inferences from what was written, but he did not directly criticise any one.

Make of that what you will, but Adam was immediately reminded of the comment by the Francis Urqhuart character, played by Ian Richardson, in the TV series House of Cards who uttered those immortal words-‘You might very well think that, I couldn’t possibly comment. …

Like many at the event Adam purchased a copy of the book and when he has read it will give some further comments.

AN interesting session.

Adam is now looking forward to the 19th of June when Bill English will be the lunch speaker at the WRCC on the topic of the recent budget.

Scoopit!