Major sets off for Florence under attack from all sides

Date: 20/06/1996

By Rory Watson

A YEAR ago, British Premier John Major travelled to the EU summit in Cannes determined to lay his political career on the line in a bid to quell the rising tide of rebellion within his own party over Europe.

Now, as EU leaders meet in Florence, Major is once again being assailed from all sides as British Conservatives inflict new wounds on each other in their never-ending internal battle over the Union.

But the similarities end there. Last year Major tried to silence his critics by resigning as head of the Conservative Party and forcing a leadership election.

While the minds of other EU leaders in Cannes were focused on Union business, the embattled UK premier was fine-tuning his tactics to defeat his Eurosceptic challenger John Redwood.

Major emerged triumphant, but still failed in his long-term objective of papering over the cracks in the party's European policy. Having deployed them once, Major cannot use the same tactics a second time.

The political stakes are now higher following the intervention of Major's predecessor Baroness Margaret Thatcher, who sparked a furore in Westminister last week by making a substantial donation from her own pocket to the European Foundation run by arch Tory Eurosceptic MP Bill Cash.

Her high-profile gesture came after Cash was forced to break his links with maverick multi-millionaire businessman Sir James Goldsmith, who has threatened to run candidates from his own Referendum Party against Conservatives at the next general election.

That threat - and the prospect of losing their seats - helps explain why as many as 73 Conservative MPs supported Cash last week in demanding a bill which would put the UK's overall links with the Union to a referendum.

The political battle is being further fuelled by contradictory messages from the Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke and one of his most senior advisors, Professor Patrick Minford.

Clarke, a strong supporter of the Union, last week warned that choosing voluntary exile from the world's largest market-place would have serious political and economic consequences. Only by playing an influential role in the EU could the country take full advantage of the opportunities available, he insisted.

But Professor Minford painted a different picture. Analysing the UK's relationship with the Union, he concluded that - at present - the costs and benefits of membership essentially cancelled each other out. But he predicted that signing up to the social chapter and a single currency would radically change that delicate balance in favour of those arguing for EU withdrawal.