[3] After Douglas resigned finance minister he used a Backbone club rally to publicly announce his intention to challenge for the party leadership.
The challenge was withdrawn after a deal was worked out between himself and Dyson by initiating a review of the party constitution including a period for branches to lodge submissions.
[9] After Labour was defeated at the 1990 election the club's members formed the nucleus for the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers, a pressure-group promoting Rogernomics founded in 1993 by Douglas and Derek Quigley.
In the lead up to the 1993 election Douglas supporter Chris Diack missed out on selection as candidate for Onehunga, despite winning the floor vote of members, to former left-wing MP for Eden, Richard Northey.
After missing out on the nomination Diack and his allies in the branch drained the electorate cash accounts by lump paying more than $6000 in outstanding debts to party headquarters, leaving just $7 to fund Northey's campaign in an act of spite.