THE PRESS SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1982. Mr Rowling’s choice

Press, 18 December 1982, Page 16

THE PRESS SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1982. Mr Rowling’s choice

Even members of the Labour Party and of its Parliamentary caucus who would prefer Mr W. E. Rowling to head the party have reason to thank him for the timing of his announcement that he will resign the leadership. Had it been made while Parliament was still sitting, the announcement would have left the party in disarray in the House. The Government would have made great capital from the Opposition’s uncertainty and discomfort. Delaying the announcement until' nearer the party’s caucus meeting in February, when members are due to decide the leadership, would have reduced the time available for the caucus to sort itself out. As a result of the way in which Mr Rowling has managed matters, aspirants to the post may now stake their claims and rally their support over the best part of six weeks, safe in the knowledge that their ambition will not be regarded as a divisive and harmful attempt to unseat the leader. The members of the caucus have time to sort themselves out without that element of intrigue and back-stabbing that characterised the December, 1980, attempt to replace Mr Rowling with his deputy, Mr D. R. Lange. That incident, raised tempers to such an extent that Mr Rowling was moved to label some of his caucus as “political has-beens,” and others as “nakedly ambitious.” By clearing the decks with plenty of time in hand, Mr Rowling has averted such acrimony.

Some observers might be tempted' to think that achieving this convenient timing was the sole reason behind Mr Rowling’s stated determination to remain as leader just two months ago. On his return from an overseas tour, Mr Rowling said that he would not step down voluntarily from the leadership of the party. He said also that those clearly in line to succeed him did not have sufficient political experience. Mr Rowling would have been aware of the need to stop speculation on the leadership that would have damaged the party and its performance during the remainder of the Parliamentary session. His statements in October would have had this effect, but it is also likely that Mr Rowling genuinely intended to make a fight of it. He has never backed away from awkward situations or sought the easy way out. When, in 1972, his Buller seat was abolished and he was confronted with the very marginal Tasman electorate, Mr Rowling was offered the safe Labour seat of Avon. He. declined.

In 1976, during his 15-month tenure as Prime Minister after the death of Mr N. E. Kirk, Mr Rowling was faced with the

Moyle affair. His long-time friend, and the man who prompted him to stand for Buller in 1962, Mr C. J. Moyle, was Minister of Agriculture. Mr Moyle was also at the centre of a political scandal that was damaging the party. Mr Rowling had to persuade his friend to resign his portfolio and withdraw from Parliament. Mr Moyle is now back in Parliament and might seek the post Mr Rowling is about to leave. Mr Rowling also showed his tenacity during the 1980 attempt to remove him from the leadership and was adamant that the slim margin by which he retained power was enough. In the last two months he has been persuaded, or has persuaded himself, that he can no longer retain the leadership without dividing the party. His falling star in the public opinion polls would not, of itself, be sufficient to do this. Mr Rowling said yesterday he had worked very hard assessing the feeling of the party and its supporters since his return from overseas. It would appear that he has found too many people who do not believe he can lead the party to the Treasury benches and who therefore desire a change. Mr Rowling says only that he has found the tensions within the party are increasing, and that the leadership is the focal point of these tensions. Most probably, his researches have disclosed that insufficient support remains within the party to guarantee his place as leader but the large personal following he has would split the party in two if he persisted in trying to achieve his ambition to be Prime Minister “for at least six years.” In this instance, his voluntary resignation is not prompted by an unwillingness to fight, but by a desire to preserve and promote the Labour Party.

In the eight years that he has led the Labour Party, Mr Rowling has suffered political and personal set-backs. He has not yet said whether he will contest the next General Election. It would be hard for a man who has led his party .to three consecutive election defeats to ride into office on the coat-tails of a successor, but, if Mr Rowling believes that Labour can be the Government and that he would have a useful purpose within that Government, he is the kind of person who would carry on. A return to the finance portfolio would be a logical place for him in a Labour Government. If he retires from politics in 1984, he will have the satisfaction of knowing he did not subject his party to bloody internal battle but heeded the advice from “Macbeth”: “Stand not upon the order of your going, but go at once.”