Photo recall: MPs caught behind bars

(Clockwise from top L) Michael Bassett, Phil Goff, Bob Tizard and Helen Clark at Mt Eden Prison in 1983. File photo / Roger Gilchrist

It is the kind of photo opportunity that political leaders would or should run a mile from these days. Think of of Don Brash walking the plank, or Trevor Mallard "krumping" (don't ask).

This photo of four Labour MPs all soon to be Cabinet ministers was taken in 1983 during a fact-finding visit to Mt Eden Prison as they geared up for the following year's general election.

Michael Bassett chaired what he calls the "Auckland issues committee" of the Labour Party, and he is photographed, clockwise from top right, with fellow MPs Phil Goff, Bob Tizard and Helen Clark.

Bassett says what he remembers most about this visit was the odour. "God, that jail was bad in the 1980s the smell was overpowering. Mostly bad smells covered over by strong disinfectant."

The smell was probably the reason, says Bassett, that Clark "looks like she's just swallowed a canary".

The prison, whose foundations were laid in 1872, had been the scene of a nasty riot and fire in 1965 and pressure had been building for the archaic structure to be overhauled or demolished.

Bassett says this picture, complete with paint flaking off the bars, was a catalyst for renovations. "The publicity attached to this photo gave credibility to the claims that something needed to be done," he says.

The four MPs pictured were all Cabinet ministers by 1987, but since then their paths have diverged. Bassett retired from politics in 1990 and has since written several political histories.

Clark now works in New York as head of the United Nations Development Program, while Tizard, now 85, serves as an elected member of the Auckland District Health Board.

Goff, meanwhile, lost the glasses and moustache in the intervening years and is now Leader of the Opposition.

Mt Eden Prison remains in use, and is presently undergoing a $216 million makeover to further extend its operational life.