Douglas accuses Pope of vendetta
By
BRENDON BURNS
in Wellington The former Minister of Finance, Mr Roger Douglas, last evening accused Ms Margaret Pope, the companion of the former Prime Minister, Mr Lange, of conducting a vendetta against him. .- Mr Douglas said Ms Pope, a former Beehive speechwriter for Mr Lange, had done considerable damage to the Government and Mr Lange. He denied her claims that he had lied about the June, 1988, Budget deficit blow-out forecast Mr Douglas, now the Minister of Police and Immigration, was responding to a long newspaper interview with Ms Pope. She has described him as “an extremist of the most radical and dangerous kind,” and an “outright” liar.
The Prime Minister, Mr Palmer, said yesterday that perhaps he had failed in not being able to reconcile the feud between the offices of Mr Lange and Mr Douglas in 1988. But he rejected Ms Pope’s description of Mr Douglas and downplayed her influence on Mr Lange. Mr Douglas said he had not wished to be drawn into the
“kinds of sordid argument” opened up by Ms Pope’s first interview extract, published at the week-end. But he said a second article, run yesterday, which said he as Minister of Finance, and his staff told lies, required a response. ?<Thoseallegationß swe?, totally false,” he said. “Why she wants to keep her vendetta alive is beyond me.
“Her ’confessions’ must be most embarrassing to the person whose speeches she was employed to write,” he said. Mr Palmer said Ms Pope’s interviews were an interpretation of history being rehearsed by one of its actors. He confirmed she had approached him in 1988, suggesting both she and Mr Douglas’s press secretary, Mr Bevan Burgess, resign. She hoped it would stop the feuding between the offices of Mr Lange and Mr Douglas.
Mr Palmer said it was tantalising to think about who influenced which Cabinet Minister. However, it was the discussions in Cabinet which usually persuaded Ministers the most, he said.
Pope interview, page 6
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Press, 19 December 1989, Page 1
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334Douglas accuses Pope of vendetta Press, 19 December 1989, Page 1
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