Major, Thatcher in proxy battle

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, AUG. 23. When two former Prime Ministers take off their gloves, the media starts calling it a ``civil war'', the BBC hosts the season's first and only head-to-head live debate on it, and allegations of misdemeanour and worse fly around like snowflakes a stranger might think Britain is in the midst of a serious political upheaval, only to discover the prosaic truth that the Tories are preparing to elect a new leader.

The final phase of the Tory leadership contest, happily coinciding with the ``silly'' season in the media, has thrown the party into a turmoil reopening old wounds and causing fresh bruises in what is turning out to be a very public row over who- did-what-to-whom-and when. A savage attack by the former Prime Minister, Mr. John Major, on his predecessor, Lady Margaret Thatcher, whom he accused of instigating rebellion against him and damaging the party, dominated the headlines today as commentators warned of more ``blood-letting''. Mr. Major is backing his former Chancellor, Mr. Kenneth Clarke, in the leadership race while Lady Thatcher has come out in support of Mr. Ian Duncan Smith, a europhobe whom Mr. Major has charged with disloyalty for defying his Government's stand on the Maastricht Treaty and voting against it.

In what is seen as his most stinging attack on Lady Thatcher, Mr. Major said she created immense difficulties for him when he was Prime Minister by instigating backbenchers such as Mr. Duncan Smith against him. ``If you have young backbenchers in Parliament wondering whether they should rebel against the Government they have been elected to support, and they are encouraged to do so by the activities of the former Prime Minister whom they revere, then clearly it becomes much easier for them to rebel'', he said in a BBC radio 4 interview, adding that it was ``pretty unprecedented to have a former Prime Minister to be actively encouraging new young Conservative Members of Parliament to vote against an existing Conservative Government in the way that Margaret did.''

Mr. Major spoke bitterly of the ``difficulties'' - sleaze, recession, high unemployment - which she left behind and complained that she was ``not very helpful'' as his Government got down to sorting out the mess. He also attacked Mr. Duncan Smith saying that on Maastricht Treaty, relating to Britain's entry into Europe, he ``voted night after night with the Labour Party in the Labour lobby with the purpose of defeating the Government''. Declaring his support for the europhile Mr. Clarke he said ``Ken'' was vastly more experienced and the ``best option'' to win back the support of Tories who had deserted the party, and make it electable again.

Retaliation from the Thatcher camp, known as the hard right and blamed by ``modernising'' Tories for the party's aliention from the people, was quick and sharp. The xenophobic Mr. Norman (now Lord) Tebbit, who devised the infamous cricket loyalty test for immigrants, called Mr. Major a ``bitter man'' and accused Mr. Clarke of having conspired against Lady Thatcher when she was Prime Minister. The war of words - ``Major savages Thatcher'', Tebbit savages Clarke'', ``Clarke savages Duncan Smith'' is how The Guardian summed it up - reached its climax with a BBC debate between Mr. Clarke and Mr. Duncan Smith on Wednesday night. The two spent an hour sparring on Europe even as both insisted that the party needed to stop talking about Europe and concentrate on bread-and-butter issues. The much hyped debate far from enthusing apostate Tories left them even more determined to stay away from it, judging from the reaction of the studio audience.

Meanwhile, Mr. Clarke's modest prospects looked like going up in smoke following allegations that the British American Tobacco (BAT) of which he is a paid deputy chairman had been involved in cigarette smuggling. Mr. Clarke, however, put on a brave face alleging that the story was a ``Millbank'' (Labour headquarters) operation to embarrass him and spoil his chances. ``I'm very flattered that the Labour Pary wants me to lose this election'', he said denying he was guilty of any impropriety. His critics, however, insisted on a parliamentary inquiry.

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