Embattled Major vigorously defends premiership

Embattled Major vigorously defends premiership

LONDON (Reuter): British Prime Minister John Major launched a vigorous defense of his premiership yesterday after policy U- turns and dismal poll ratings sparked heated talk of a leadership challenge in the ruling Conservative Party.

Major, who is banking on economic recovery restoring his political fortunes which have fallen faster and lower than any premier's since opinion polls began in Britain in the 1930s, said he was in no mood to bow to critics.

"I'm not going to change policy to appease my critics. I'm not going to change style to appease my critics and I'm not going to change objectives to appease my critics," he told the Mail yesterday on the second anniversary of his 1992 general election victory.

Using the newspaper interview to deliver a forceful message to his party ahead of Tuesday's return to parliament after the Easter recess, Major said: "Like it or not, I am what I am. I am not going to change and I don't think I should."

Major, whose government has been damaged by a spate of sex scandals this year, had to climb down last month over European Union voting rights. The Conservatives have also retreated over education policy and a so-called back-to-basics campaign for a return to traditional moral values.

One Conservative loyalist spoke of "despair" within the party over Major. A recent poll confirmed newspaper speculation that Trade and Industry Secretary Michael Heseltine had emerged as the biggest threat to Major's leadership.

Sir Norman Fowler, chairman of the Conservatives, called yesterday for party unity, saying talk of a leadership challenge was now over.

"There is no question that the prime minister will be leading us...into the next election," Fowler said on television.

In his interview, Major said: "I would rather be unpopular doing the right thing than popular doing the wrong thing."

Major described as "patently ludicrous" suggestions that May 5 local government elections were a referendum on his leadership and repeated his plans to get out and meet electors. A poll in the Sunday Times predicted widespread Conservative election losses.

Margaret Thatcher, whom Major replaced in November 1990, faced different issues, he said. "Many of the old demons and dragons she fought against are gone...It is a different set of problems now and they need a different set of solutions."

Deliberately targeting the right wing of the Conservative Party, which is critical of Major and cherishes Thatcher's legacy, he said: "It is no good clinging to exactly the same things that were right in the 1980s."

Major said he regretted that by concentrating on economic policy he gave the impression that the government had no vision of Britain beyond that of a "shopping society".