Tory civil war erupts * Major savages Thatcher * Tebbit savages Clarke * Clarke savages Duncan Smith Nicholas Watt, political correspondent Thursday August 23, 2001 The Guardian A ferocious round of internal Tory bloodletting was unleashed yesterday when John Major intervened in the leadership contest in an attempt to derail Iain Duncan Smith's campaign and to destroy Margaret Thatcher's legacy. As the two leadership contenders held their only head-to-head television debate of the campaign, senior Conservatives tore strips off each other after Mr Major accused Lady Thatcher of inflicting damage on his government, and came close to branding Mr Duncan Smith a liar. Lord Tebbit rounded on Mr Major as a "bitter man", saying that Mr Clarke's supporters were in no position to offer lectures on loyalty, alleging the former health secretary approached him in 1990 to unseat Lady Thatcher months before her downfall. His outburst marked a new low in the contest after the Duncan Smith camp reacted furiously to Mr Major's portrayal of their man as a slippery operator whose supporters are "electoral poison". In a BBC interview, the former prime minister effectively accused Mr Duncan Smith of lying when he rejected his claim that he was offered a government post to buy him off during his rebellions against the Maastricht treaty in the early 1990s. "I can tell you categorically that at no stage did I offer Iain a job in government," Mr Major said. His remarks were an embarrassment to Mr Duncan Smith, who claimed in January that he "turned down government appointments". The Duncan Smith camp hit back, claiming he was offered the post of ministerial aide to the disgraced former cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken. It was offered, they said, by the former deputy chief whip Greg Knight, who is supporting Mr Clarke in the leadership contest. The spat over Mr Duncan Smith's record as a Tory rebel erupted after Mr Major gave vent to 10 years of frustration when he rounded on Lady Thatcher for encouraging Eurosceptic backbenchers to vote against his government over the Maastricht treaty. In an interview on the Today programme, in which he endorsed Mr Clarke, the former prime minister said his predecessor had inflicted "unprecedented and immense" damage to his government by colluding with the likes of Mr Duncan Smith. His outburst provoked a ferocious assault from the right of the party. Lord Tebbit - attacked by Mr Major in today's Spectator for peddling "crude innuendo" about Michael Portillo - accused the former prime minister of being silly and described Mr Clarke as a devious figure who was Tony Blair's choice for Tory leader. Recalling Mr Clarke's alleged attempt to enlist his support in a plot to unseat Lady Thatcher in 1990, the former cabinet minister told the PM programme: "Ken approached me and asked if I would be willing to stand for the leadership of the party with him as my deputy, because he said he was entirely comfortable with the policies he thought I would pursue." A spokesman for Mr Clarke said that he had no recollection of such a conversation, although he pointed out that discussions about the leadership were rife at the time. The skirmishing among the Tory grandees set the scene for a bitter contest between Mr Clarke and Mr Duncan Smith when they appeared at the first leadership hustings at Westminster at lunchtime. The Duncan Smith camp distributed photographs of the former chancellor next to Mr Blair at the launch of the cross-party Britain in Europe pressure group. Underneath a caption read: "Lest we forget ... !" During a 45 minute appearance, Mr Duncan Smith boasted of his role in voting with Labour in the early 1990s against the Maastricht treaty. To loud applause, he compared himself to Winston Churchill and Harold Macmillan, who had defied Tory governments. "I voted against the government 11 times," he said. "I abstained on a large number of divisions which I felt would have damaged us. I could not bring myself to vote for a treaty passing too many powers over to Brussels." In a separate appearance, a relaxed Mr Clarke highlighted his disdain for Mr Duncan Smith's brand of Conservatism when he said that the electorate were right to reject the Tories in June. "The public were not wrong," he said. "I agree with my fellow citizens." The former chancellor mocked Lady Thatcher, who provoked the latest round of infighting when she warned that Mr Clarke would be a disaster for the party. "What did she do about my views on Europe when I was a minister?" he asked. "She kept on promoting me." But Mr Clarke was barracked by Duncan Smith supporters when he attempted to reach out to Eurosceptics by saying that he did not believe that Britain should abandon its tax-raising powers. Rightwingers also reacted angrily when he criticised Tories who opposed Chris Patten's report on policing in Northern Ireland, saying: "It's no good British Conservatives being more Orange than the Unionists." Full article at: http://politics.guardian.co.uk/conservatives/story/0,9061,541107,00.html Michael Keaney Mercuria Business School Martinlaaksontie 36 01620 Vantaa Finland [EMAIL PROTECTED]
