Prime Minister David Lange's 'nuclear' moment on world stage at Oxford Union debate

The stage was Oxford Union's debating chamber, and the world. Then-Prime Minister David Lange arguing nuclear weapons were morally indefensible. American televangelist Jerry Falwell, the opposite. Three weeks earlier Lange's Government, elected on a promise to make New Zealand nuclear-free, had refused entry to the USS Buchanan after the Americans refused to say if the warship had nuclear capability. The move left New Zealand in hot water with traditional allies the US, UK and Australia, and the debate only fuelled international attention on our anti-nuclear stance. Ken Richardson, then principal private secretary to Lange, was in the audience.

There was drama before we even got to the debate.

We were staying in the Randolph Hotel but before we could move in the police were there in force and said, 'We've got to get the Prime Minister into a safe place right away'.

They said there'd been a bomb threat against him.

The dogs were brought in and they locked the doors of the hotel.

It was only a few months earlier that Maggie Thatcher had been a target with the Brighton hotel bombing, and of course they'd had IRA bombings for quite some time.

So the police were always very nervous.

They didn't find anything, but the outcome was rather amusing because the Prime Minister had the best suite, facing the street.

And they said to me, 'You go in there and we'll put him into a back room'.

And being Lange, he told everybody that I'd done the bomb threat so I could have the best room. He laughed like hell about that.

Ken Richardson, who was principal private secretary to late former Prime Minister David Lange. Photo / Michael Craig

Afterwards, the police thought it was a hoax to try and unnerve Lange. But it didn't work.

Before the debate we had dinner with the opposing side, that's Jerry Falwell, who was a famous televangelist and a friend of Ronald Reagan.

He was virtually representing the US Government.

I could see right from the beginning Lange was just in his element, because the Oxford Union - which has been a debating society for centuries - is rather like a parliament.

Whereas Jerry Falwell would only sit in front of TV cameras, and no audience.

Falwell was very polite, and he was beautifully turned out with coiffed hair. He looked like what we used to call a tailor's dummy.

He was a smart guy when he was talking about the Bible, but we could see immediately that he was not the right guy. He looked almost uncomfortable.

And the audience of course was university students and, whatever their political persuasion, with Lange's quips and scoring they warmed to him.

Quite often, he didn't have prepared speeches, he could extemporise on any subject.

A relaxed David Lange pictured in a United Kingdom cafe before taking part in the Oxford Union Debate on March 1 1985. Photo / Getty Images

For that though, because he knew he was on the international stage, he would've had prepared notes.

I remember they had this arcane system where if you wanted to ask a question during the debate you had to come to the despatch box and say, 'Do you yield?'

The "uranium on your breath" moment, which is the most famous part of the debate, the young man who stepped forward had to do that four or five times, because Lange ignored him.

You don't see that in the video.

Eventually Lange said yes, and the guy asked a pointed question about how, 'You don't snuggle up to the bomb, but you want to be protected by it', that sort of thing.

You could see Lange had the answer before the guy even finished his question, which was very typical of his style.

I'd see it at public meetings. He invariably picked up the question before a person was halfway through. I've never encountered that before or since.

David Lange in action during the Oxford Union debate. Photo / Still from video

And with one-liners, of course, he was pretty good at that, too.

The "uranium on your breath" caused uproar and clapping went on and people were standing up and cheering.

After the debate was over the union itself debated about who won, and then voted.

We'd gone back to the hotel by then. Someone said they were hungry so the hotel gave us these beautiful club sandwiches. So we all sat around eating sandwiches.

Then we were in bed - I mean, we'd flown from New Zealand the day before - so we didn't know Lange had won till the next morning.

It's hard to say what he thought about winning. He was always rather phlegmatic in that sense.

Yoko Ono, third left, began writing to David Lange, fourth from left, after seeing his Oxford Union debate performance, Ken Richardson, second left, says. Photo / Supplied

The debate was televised, in America on their public broadcasting service, and there was a feed to New Zealand, and a lot of people told us they'd watched it.

When we stepped out into the airport carpark after arriving home there were hundreds and hundreds of people with balloons, cheering.

These were all anti-nuclear people, and there were a few Labour MPs. It was quite a joyous occasion.

I've often said it was the high water mark of David Lange's Prime Ministership, because of the accolades he got, and the warmth of the reception when he got back.

It was like the All Blacks had won.

• As told to Cherie Howie