Lange disavows any expulsion move

Press, 20 December 1988, Page 1

Lange disavows any expulsion move

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

The possibility of his two former Cabinet colleagues being expelled from the Labour Party has been conceded by the Prime Minister, but Mr Lange does not plan to expel them himself. He said yesterday he would not be responsible for Messrs Douglas and Prebble being expelled from the party. Although the events of the last months should fade into the past, events of the last week suggested they would not fade away.

“There are matters which ought not to be the subject of public debate,” Mr Lange said.

“This must be the first time that a Cabinet Minister of more than seven years experience has said that documents marked ‘Secret, Confidential Cabinet Material’ can be waltzed around the press gallery. “The fact is that you cannot go

carrying on like that and hope to be responsible.” He was perfectly prepared to talk to any of his caucus colleagues in private about those matters, but, for instance, he did not propose to discuss the details of the secret intelligence Waihopai base in public.

Mr Douglas might be prepared to do that but, generally speaking, it was not regarded by the international community as a responsible way for a would-be Prime Minister to behave. Asked whether he expected Mr Douglas to keep his place after a Wednesday vote that saw a Lange win, the Prime Minister said Mr Douglas had said what his goal was.

“His goal is to have a maximum destabilisation of this Government and perhaps giving the implication of being interested in forming another party to cause a

further destabilisation,” Mr Lange said. Mr Douglas had said quite plainly he was not prepared to rest by the judgment of the caucus, and that was up to him.

“My job is not to surrender to that type of carry-on, but to procure for this country some betterment and advantage,” he said.

For example, it was necessary to move out of the extraordinary state of affairs where, as shown by the papers he had released, Mr Douglas was proposing to sell to the Government Life Insurance Office the right to use its own name.

Expulsion was not a matter for him; the Labour Party could form a view of that and he professed no view of it.

He did not want to be drawn into sideshows.

Further reports, page 6