MPs remember Lange - warts and all

MPs yesterday shared tears and laughter as they paid tribute to four former colleagues.

They were political giant David Lange, Greens co-leader Rod Donald and former National MPs John Falloon and Jack Luxton.

The stories evoked tears and sombre reflections, laughter, cross-party praise and the occasional criticism, uniting MPs in a rare wave of warm-spirited fraternity.

A number of MPs will be in Christchurch today for Mr Donald's funeral.

Yesterday they farewelled Mr Lange, Prime Minister from 1984 to 1989, who died in August.

Many recalled Mr Lange's wit, his oratory, his support and friendships with the many different communities in Auckland and ultimately his passion as a man of the people for the people.

Helen Clark described him as "a big man in every way, not only in stature, but also in his ability to think broadly and to express his ideas brilliantly and extempore, and because he had a big heart for his fellow human beings."

He had put New Zealand on the world map and the nuclear free legislation was his legacy, she said.

National leader Don Brash said he had met Mr Lange just after the latter had been elected to Parliament and Mr Lange had asked him to join the Labour Party, with a view to becoming an MP.

Dr Brash was flattered, but after considering the offer for several days, told Mr Lange Labour supported too much government interference in the economy and a union movement which was too archaic for his liking.

"I'll never forget his response ... to my comments. He said 'I agree with you, join the Labour Party and help me change it'."

The country owed Mr Lange a great debt for the economic reforms of the 80s, he said.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters recalled him as his university tutor who was as witty and informative then as he had been as a politician.

"It was Aristotle who said that 'all virtue is summed up in dealing justly'. David Lange was a just man."

But there were reservations as well.

Progressive leader Jim Anderton was Labour Party president when Mr Lange attempted to oust Bill Rowling for the party's leadership in 1981.

"I continue to believe that, had that leadership attempt not been made, New Zealand's modern history would have been vastly different. Rob Muldoon's disastrous period of government would probably have been avoided. The deep social and economic failure of the 80s need not have occurred."

He also noted that while Mr Lange was a lifelong critic of nuclear weapons: "He never felt the same conviction towards visits by nuclear-powered ships."

There were lighter moments.

Praising his "lashing wit and formidable intelligence", Mr Anderton remembered a Vogel House dinner for Chinese leader Hu Yao Bang when the lights suddenly went out.

Mr Lange had immediately asked the guests to raise their hands.

"He told them ... 'many hands make light work'. The guests duly put their hands up and the lights immediately came on."

Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen said Mr Lange was an "extraordinarily complex" man, which could make him difficult to work with.

His feelings of hurt from the insults he had suffered "because he was a large, fat boy" had deeply scarred him for life.

"It occasionally made him overly prone to wounding people ... he spent much of the last year or so of his life, in fact, trying to make peace with people," Dr Cullen said.

"He could say some awful things sometimes about people. His love-hate relationship with the Labour Women's Council was a wonder to behold and gave some of us with similar mixed non-PC feelings a great deal of pleasure and joy over a number of years."

He said he couldn't talk about it often, particularly in the Prime Minister's presence, but she had left the House by the time he spoke.