Birch bid for top

Press, 12 September 1984, Page 1

Birch bid for top

By

PATRICIA HERBERT

in Wellington Recent moves by an Opposition front-bencher, Mr W. F. Birch, indicate that he is trying to put himself back in the race for the leadership of the National Party. His high ranking made him a natural contender but he spoiled his chances at the outset by aligning himself closely With the present leader, Sir Robert Muldoon. The question is up for review when the Parliamentary wing first meets next year but the party organisation has made iti plain that it wants Sir Robert replaced. Sir Robert has not yet

made his intention clear but has said that he is “unlikely to be a candidate.” An attempt was made in the National caucus soon after the July General Election to topple him but it failed. Mr Birch remained loyal to Sir Robert and lobbied for him to defeat the coup but this did not prevent his being touted by some commentators as a possible successor. Other candidates were the former Minister of Transport, Mr Gair, who publicly declared his availability; the former Minister of Labour, Mr Bolger, and the deputy leader, Mr McLay.

They have been grooming themselves for the role since then and all made bids for support when the House was in session by playing to the gallery and presenting themselves as effective Opposition politicians. Mr Bolger is probably the front-runner, with Mr Gair a close second followed by Mr McLay. Mr Birch is trailing badly and it seemed that he had almost dropped from contention. However, yesterday he released the text of a speech he made last week to the party’s Manurewa branch.

Because it was given to the news media five days after delivery, it amounts to a press statement and reads as a declaration that he is up and running as a leadership candidate. Mr Birch said in the address that if National was to win in 1987 it had to begin immediately “to do the things that must be done.”

The task ahead was to develop the most effective political base possible round which the forces of private enterprise and anti-social-ism could unite. “We start with a decided advantage in that we have built a strong organisational structure on the ground in the last 50 years,” he said. The party was unmatched in these terms and in terms of total membership, he said, yet it had been soundly defeated at the polls.

Mr Birch said the reasons for the loss had to be .analysed and corrected. He suggested that among them were:

9 A failure to sell forward policy. • A failure to defend persuasively National’s performance in office.

e National’s style of government.

® Divisions over the leadership. • The lack of an attractive manifesto.

• Poorly presented publicity. • Insufficient motivation in key electorates and a lack of preparedness in others.

Mr Birch adopted a conciliatory approach, saying that there was “very little profit in apportioning fault.” However, his analysis, by implication, lays some of the blame at the door of Sir Robert who dominated the party’s election campaign. This represents a departure for Mr Birch who, until now, has refused publicly at least to admit that there may be chinks in Sir Robert’s armour.

His loyalty may have won him points in some quarters but it has definitely cost him support where it counts — in the party. This emerged in his keynote address to the annual conference in July where Mr Birch was laughed at by delegates for saying that many National supporters thought Sir Robert walked on water.

He had badly misread their mood; they were wanting a prescription for success in 1987 and they felt that to achieve this they had first to get rid of Sir Robert.

The speech Mr Birch released yesterday was more in step with this feeling. “There is something to be gained in analysing where we went wrong and starting immediately to remedy the problems,” he said. “This process will require dedicated and realistic leadership from caucus and the upper echelons of the party.” The whole machinery must be in tip-top working order, he said. “That, of course, will not be achieved overnight but must be faced up to step by step as we analyse and agree on any weaknesses that we have developed during our period of office,” he said.

Mr Birch even suggested that, with effort, the part might win Manurewa from the Minister of Finance, Mr Douglas, at the next General Election.