The Fish and Chip Brigade was a humorous name given to four leading members of the

New Zealand Labour Party The New Zealand Labour Party ( mi, Rōpū Reipa o Aotearoa), or simply Labour (), is a centre-left political party in New Zealand. The party's platform programme describes its founding principle as democratic socialism, while observers descr ...

who became senior members in the

Fourth Labour Government The Fourth Labour Government of New Zealand governed New Zealand from 26 July 1984 to 2 November 1990. It was the first Labour government to win a second consecutive term since the First Labour Government of 1935 to 1949. The policy agenda o ...

(1984–1990). The politicians in the 'brigade' were future

Prime Ministers A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is no ...

David Lange David Russell Lange ( ; 4 August 1942 – 13 August 2005) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 32nd prime minister of New Zealand from 1984 to 1989. Lange was born and brought up in Otahuhu, the son of a medical doctor. He became ...

and

Mike Moore Michael Moore is an American filmmaker and author. Michael Moore may also refer to: Academia * Michael G. Moore (fl. 1970s–2020s), professor of education * Michael S. Moore (academic) (fl. 1960s–2020s), American law professor * Michael Moore ...

, future

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

Roger Douglas Sir Roger Owen Douglas (born 5 December 1937) is a retired New Zealand politician who served as a minister in two Labour governments. He became arguably best known for his prominent role in New Zealand's radical economic restructuring in the 198 ...

, and future

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

and

Local Government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

Dr.

Michael Bassett Michael Edward Rainton Bassett (born 28 August 1938) is a former Labour Party member of the New Zealand House of Representatives and cabinet minister in the reformist fourth Labour government. He is also a noted New Zealand historian, and ha ...

. Future

Minister for State Owned Enterprises The Minister of State Owned Enterprises is the government minister in New Zealand responsible for trading enterprises owned by the New Zealand Government (see State-owned enterprises of New Zealand), usually in conjunction with the minister r ...

Richard Prebble Richard William Prebble (born 7 February 1948) is a former member of the New Zealand Parliament. Initially a member of the Labour Party, he joined the newly formed ACT New Zealand party under Roger Douglas in 1996, becoming its leader from 19 ...

was also present but is not seen in the photo itself. The epithet, originally used from 1980 as a term of contempt by the then ruling National Party, came about after a newspaper photograph showing the four politicians tucking into a meal of

takeaway A take-out or takeout (U.S., Canada, and the Philippines); carry-out or to-go (Scotland and some dialects in the U.S. and Canada); takeaway (England, Wales, Australia, Lebanon, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and occasionally in Nort ...

fish and chips Fish and chips is a popular hot dish consisting of fried fish in crispy batter, served with chips. The dish originated in England, where these two components had been introduced from separate immigrant cultures; it is not known who created t ...

after a failed leadership coup in which they had attempted to replace then Labour Party leader,

Bill Rowling Sir Wallace Edward Rowling (; 15 November 1927 – 31 October 1995), commonly known as Bill Rowling, was a New Zealand politician who was the 30th prime minister of New Zealand from 1974 to 1975. He held office as the parliamentary leader of t ...

, with Lange on 12 December 1980. The photograph, taken by Geoff Dale for ''

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...

'', instantly became an iconic image of New Zealand politics. The term is still used in a derogatory way by some sectors of New Zealand, in particular in reference to the hard-line

neoliberal Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...

economic policies of the Fourth Labour Government, which became known as "

Rogernomics In February 1985, journalists at the ''New Zealand Listener'' coined the term Rogernomics, a portmanteau of "Roger" and "economics" (by analogy with "Reaganomics"), to describe the neoliberal economic policies followed by Roger Douglas. Douglas ...

". In this context, the name of Labour minister Richard Prebble is also frequently added to those of the four politicians in the photograph. A long standing rumour is that Moore was not expected to be present, but after smelling the fish and chips whilst walking down the corridor, he decided to join in. The takeaway shop where the fish and chips were purchased, Wellington Fish Supplies on Molesworth Street, across the road from Parliament House, was demolished in 2003 to make way for the Kate Sheppard Apartments. Earlier it had been slated for demolition in the late 1980s, but its significance was seen as such that Lange's successor as Prime Minister,

Geoffrey Palmer Geoffrey Palmer may refer to: Politicians * Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 1st Baronet (1598–1670), English lawyer and politician *Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 3rd Baronet (1655–1732), English politician, Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicestershire *Geoffrey Pa ...

, stepped in to save it. At the time of its closure it was still frequented by Prebble, the last member of the grouping still in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Notes

References

* {{New Zealand Labour Party Political history of New Zealand New Zealand Labour Party 1980 in New Zealand 1980 in politics

See also

Notes

References