Beetham era ends with new party hint

Press, 25 August 1986, Page 1

Beetham era ends with new party hint

NZPA political reporter Blenheim A serious rift among Democratic Party members developed yesterday as the ousted leader, Mr Bruce Beetham, indicated that he might break away and form a new political party.

He described the party's new leader, the member of Parliament for Pakuranga, Mr Neil Morrison, as a puppet leader and said he was part of a tightly knit group that had split and divided the party in the last year. “I can give this group and its puppet leader no more loyalty, support, and confidence than they gave me in my last year in office.

“That was precisely nil.”

Mr Beetham, a former member of Parliament for Rangitikei, said he was now giving serious consideration to finding an alternative way of expressing his loyalty and commitment to Social Credit.

He would not spell out how he might do that.

Mr Morrison and the party’s president, Mr Stefan Lipa, later moved to play down any threatened split among party members and emphatically denied there was a rift.

Democrat delegates voted on Saturday to dump Mr Beetham when he faced his first challenge since taking office 14 years ago. While he would not comment on Saturday he lashed out yesterday — indicating he may move to further distance himself from the new leadership.

His comments . were prompted by statements made by Mr Morrison, who, Mr Beetham said, had rejected Social Credit’s ultimate monetary policy — the payment of a national dividend.

Mr Morrison promptly responded by denying the assertion and offering Mr Beetham the party’s finance post, which he declined. Mr Beetham said that the Democratic Party was now clearly in the hands of a “power-seeking clique without any sincere commitment to Social Credit.”

“I would find it well

nigh impossible to serve under a leader who is part of a tight-knit group that intrigued continuously and unconstitutionally against me for a full year in blatant defiance of the democratic will of the 1985 conference,” he said.

Mr Beetham said there were now only two factors that might persuade him to continue standing as the party’s Rangitikei candidate: one was his loyalty to the party’s new deputy, Mr Alasdair Thompson — who is also his brother-in-law ■— and the other was his sense of loyalty to the local electors.

He was now seriously contemplating finding an alternative way of expressing that loyalty. The Rangitikei delegation, which did not attend the final day of the conference, fully supported him, he said. Two other areas which traditionally supplied much of the party’s funding had also indicated concern about the weekend’s events, he said. Mr Beetham said the offer to be the party’s finance spokesman had no attraction. There was quite clearly going to be a change of direction in the party’s financial policy.

He believed the new hierarchy, which he previously asserted was mas-ter-minded by the retiring member of Parliament for East Coast Bays, Mr Garry Knapp, wanted to see the back of genuine Social Creditors.

“They want to see them out of their hair.

“I think there is a very considerable likelihood all genuine Social Creditors in the country are going to oblige them." The party would then be left as a bland carbon copy of other orthodox parties, Mr Beetham said. Mr Lipa told reporters that the change of leadership had been democratically made and it was everyone’s responsibility to support it The party hierarchy would approach Mr Beetham to say it was keen to see him win Rangitikei. It hoped he would take up the finance spokesman’s post. Mr Lipa said, however, that he had made it clear

that comments such as Mr Beetham’s were not in the party’s favour and should not be made publicly.

He hoped that as feelings died down those comments would stop.

“I would say that people when they have been confronted with the situation he has been confronted with get very upset. That is a human quality. “It would take any person faced in a similar position a little time to settle down.” Mr Morrison said he believed his track record in the party would tend to dismiss any suggestion that he was anyone’s puppet. “I think it is just a bit of a reflex action.” He did not believe Mr Knapp’s influence could be seen to undermine his leadership.

The two members of Parliament worked well as a team, he said. Asked if he was disappointed that his ascendancy to the leadership was now causing a rift

within the party, Mr Morrison said, “There is no rift in the party.” “Leadership changes are always difficult. Things will calm down, they always do don’t they.” During the late 1960 s and early 1970 s the party had suffered rifts when half of the conference delegates had walked out But that had not happened today. “There is total unity here,” Mr Morrison said. Asked about the absence of the Rangitikei delegation, Mr Lipa said it was to be expected that they would support their own candidate and would be emotionally involved. “I am not particularly surprised that some people have got a little upset" He denied also that there was a rift saying that would indicate some sort of large-scale problem.

“We have a few people who left the conference early because they were upset. That tells you nothing about what their future action is going to be.”