 After entering parliament in a 1977 by-election, Lange became Labour's rising star.He used the unusually high media attention from this to propel him to the Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party in 1979.Lange narrowly missed ousting Rowling in 1980, with him and his group of free market economic supporters (Roger Douglas, Michael Bassett, Richard Prebble and Mike Moore) becoming known as the "Fish and Chip Brigade" due to a picture published at the time with the group eating Fish and chips in Douglas' office after the vote.