Bassett calls on PM to bury hatchet with US over nuclear warships

By FRAN O'SULLIVAN

Former Labour Cabinet minister Michael Bassett has called on the Prime Minister to bury the nuclear hatchet with America.

In a hard-hitting address in Wellington last night, Dr Bassett claimed that a group of "insurgents" led by Helen Clark and Margaret Wilson deliberately scuttled a US warship visit in 1985 to advance their side in an internal Labour Party power struggle.

Dr Bassett based his address on a study into the Anzus row he carried out at Georgetown University in Washington this year on a Fulbright Fellowship.

"Our Prime Minister was a key player in the initial break," Dr Bassett said.

"She used it to climb the greasy pole of New Zealand politics.

"She showed in the process an early example of her superior political talents. With a display of leadership she could now resolve outstanding difficulties between New Zealand and the United States."

Dr Bassett's address canvassed the 1980s, during which David Lange became Prime Minster and led an agenda to introduce radical economic reform.

That agenda was opposed by others on the Labour Party's national executive, such as Helen Clark and Margaret Wilson, who wanted to introduce their own feminist agenda, he said.

Dr Bassett claimed the "insurgents" used deliberate news media leaks to advance their concerns.

The power struggle came to a head in early 1985 when Ms Wilson, then Labour Party president, and three junior backbenchers - Helen Clark, Jim Anderton and Fran Wilde, all critics of Mr Lange - decided to ensure that a visit by the guided missile destroyer USS Buchanan should be scuttled.

"During the meeting on January 24, 1985, Margaret Wilson decided to go beyond Labour's official policy of opposition to nuclear-armed and nuclear-propelled ships," Dr Bassett said.

"She took it upon herself to redefine policy in such a way that no ambiguities about any ship's status was possible.

"In the process she ensured no visit could take place without a standup fight between the Prime Minister and the national executive - they probably calculated this was a battle they could win."

The Wilson manoeuvre was to introduce a new stipulation that no "nuclear-capable" ship could enter New Zealand.

Dr Bassett said Helen Clark told him on March 1 this year that "the intention was to lock the Government into policy".

He indicated that it would be extremely difficult to negotiate a free-trade deal between New Zealand and the US.

But the security setting had changed since September 11 and the ingredients were there for a policy reassessment.