Robert Muldoon - Later Life

Later Life

Muldoon's deputy Jim McLay, deposed him as National Party leader shortly after the election. Muldoon remains the only defeated National Prime Minister who did not remain as party leader to lead it in Opposition. McLay lasted two years in the role, with Muldoon and others actively undermining his leadership. In 1986, he was ousted in turn by his own deputy (and Muldoon's preferred candidate), Jim Bolger, who had served as Minister of Labour for the latter half of Muldoon's term as Prime Minister. Bolger made Muldoon spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, pitting him directly against Prime Minister David Lange.

Muldoon remained in Parliament as the MP for Tamaki until shortly before his death. He lived through the Fourth Labour Government's neo-liberal reforms, known as Rogernomics, and to his horror – to see a National government (led by his own man, Bolger, after winning the landslide of 1990) take up the same baton with Ruthanasia, named after Finance Minister Ruth Richardson. Muldoon's conscience tormented him; he could not bring himself to vote with the Labour Party against the Bolger government's benefit cuts, and, looking miserable, abstained.

Muldoon also opposed the legalisation of homosexual behaviour when Labour MP Fran Wilde introduced the Homosexual Law Reform Bill in 1985. The Bill passed as the Homosexual Law Reform Act in 1986.

Although he remained iconic to particular segments of society, particularly the elderly, Muldoon faded quickly as a force on the political scene. His biographer, Barry Gustafson – who described himself as not a Muldoon supporter – wrote that he still served as an active MP for his Tamaki electorate, dealing immediately with matters from all walks of life. He continued to write in international economic journals, arguing that the unemployment that had arisen as a result of the free-market reforms was worse than the gains that were made, a view that came to be popular by the time of the Fifth Labour Government in 1999.

Muldoon had a short stage career in a New Zealand production of The Rocky Horror Show, held at Auckland's His Majesty's Theatre (demolished soon after the production ended), starring as the narrator. He also had minor television appearances on commercials for Panasonic (when it changed its brand name in New Zealand from "National") and in the television series Terry and the Gunrunners (as Arnos Grove) and in The Friday Frights (as the host); he also hosted a talkback radio show entitled Lilies and Other Things, referencing his favourite flower on Radio Pacific.

On this show, on 17 November 1991, Muldoon announced he would stand down from Parliament; he formally retired one month later, on 17 December. His retirement party featured taped speeches from Ronald Reagan (commenting that at Muldoon's age, he was only getting started) and Margaret Thatcher. He fell seriously ill almost immediately, and died in hospital on 5 August 1992, aged 70.

He is buried at Purewa Cemetery, Meadowbank, Auckland, in a plot that faces Auckland City.

• The Gravestone

• The Plaque