Tories squabble on as election defeats loom

A FRACTIOUS Tory party yesterday entered the final, crucial phase of its local election campaign in fresh disarray after a leading backbencher urged John Major to sack half-a-dozen Cabinet ministers.

Prominent Tories sought to steady the party's nerves and unite it behind the Prime Minister as it braced itself for a wave of defeats in districts and boroughs on Thursday.

But their efforts were threatened when David Evans, a populist right- wing member of the influential 1922 Committee executive, urged Mr Major to dismiss not only Sir Norman Fowler, the party chairman, but three named Cabinet members, including John Gummer, the minister in charge of local government.

And while Mr Evans insisted that Mr Major was 'very secure' he compounded the eve-of-poll turbulence by acknowledging that there were 'perhaps 50' Tory MPs who 'still would not accept' Mr Major's leadership 'at any price'.

Michael Portillo, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, was facing strong private criticism from some senior colleagues for his persistently high profile in recent days and his apparent breach on Sunday of official Cabinet neutrality on a single European currency when he said it would be 'impossible' for a future government to accept.

And as two of Mr Major's closest allies, Gillian Shephard, Minister of Agricuture, and Lord Archer urgently sought to deflect speculation about the leadership in the wake of Mr Portillo's remarks, John Smith, the Labour leader, moved to exploit what he called the 'open squabbling' in the Cabinet on Europe.

Mr Smith told the conference of the shopworkers' union Usdaw in Blackpool that the 'knives were out' for the Prime Minister and ministers were now sitting 'at their desks not doing their jobs but wondering how they can dump Mr Major in the autumn if not even sooner'.

If Thursday's local and European election results toppled Mr Major, there should be an immediate general election. The next prime minister should be chosen by the voters, not 'Tory MPs huddled into a committee room', added Mr Smith.

But it was Mr Evans's salvo that most startled MPs last night. He suggested that Mr Major could turn out to be 'one of the great prime ministers' by getting rid of six members of his Cabinet, among whom Mr Evans also casually named William Waldegrave, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and John Patten, Secretary of State for Education, Mr Major's 'kitchen Cabinet' and some 'outside advisers'.

Mr Evans's estimate of 50 dissidents exceeds by 16 the number required under party rules to force a leadership contest this November. He acknowledged on BBC radio's The World at One that there had been 'discussion between various groups' on a possible leadership crisis, but added that such a dissident minority 'would happen in any party. There is always a feeling that somebody else would do it better. I personally do not share that view, but there are others who do.'

Stephen Dorrell, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, yesterday sought to hold the line on a single currency, saying it was 'unlikely' to happen and it was 'pretty silly to answer a hypothetical question' on what would happen if it did. Mrs Shephard declared: 'I feel intense loyalty towards the Prime Minister, of course.'

Meanwhile, two of the main potential leadership candidates, Michael Heseltine and Kenneth Clarke, made speeches which kept off the issue and instead celebrated the anniversary of the Tories' accession to power 15 years ago.