LABOUR SAVING: A Memoir.

• Jurisdiction: New Zealand
• Date: 01 November 2021
• Author: Easton, Brian
• Published date: 01 November 2021
• Author: Easton, Brian

LABOUR SAVING: A Memoir

Author: Michael Cullen

Published by: Allen and Unwin, Auckland, 432pp, $50.

In the 40 years since Muldoon's reign, the predominant form of national political leadership has been a dual premiership in which, broadly, the prime minister manages the politics and the co-premier manages policy. The second is often, but not always, the minister of finance and may, or not, be the deputy prime minister. When the two are both able and working together they form a powerful partnership.

The prime minister may have particular policy interests. Jim Bolger was deeply involved in the Treaty settlement process. John Key's were less obvious. Helen Clark's included foreign policy, women's issues and the arts, as well as, particularly at the beginning, maintaining a tight control over her ministers. The exception was Michael Cullen, with whom she had been a junior minister in the disintegrating fourth Labour government (1984-90).

How these partnerships function is hardly recorded. How often did they meet informally, telephone, write or email? Were there trusted emissaries? There are the odd insights. The David Lange-Roger Douglas breakdown told us a lot about when it does not work. We know Bolger and Bill Birch and their families regularly went tramping together. Otherwise there is a virtual silence. Even the autobiographies and biographies tell us more about...