1989: David Lange Resigned

August 8, 2021

By AHNZ

Today in history, 8 August, 1989, David Lange resigned as Prime Minister of New Zealand. Thus began the Palmer Interlude.

According to State History, this very high IQ PM of 5 years had figured out only now that his Government, Labour 4.0, was some kind of New Right and free-market loving reformist regime! Rogernomics was running rampant!? Lange wasn’t going to stand for that. Couldn’t stop it. Wanted to get off…

However, what was also true is that Mr Lange was having an affair with one of his staff members, Mrs Pope. With General Election 1990 right around the corner Mr Lange had made himself a huge political liability. The Press Gallery already knew, of course, but it was kept secret from the public. That ended 3 months later when Lange’s jilted wife blurted it out (on talkback radio, I think it was.) David Lange was himself now prompted to tell the truth about the affair which he did on November 12th.

—
Ref also 1989: The Palmer Interlude

Like    Comment     Share