Major wins, for now
British Prime Minister John Major usually casts himself as a benign compromiser, straddling the unthreatening middle ground of an ideologically divided Conservative Party. But two weeks ago he deliberately forced the fight of his political life, and Tuesday he won it cleanly.
Directly challenging his party's vociferous anti-European Union minority, Major won the votes of two-thirds of the Conservative members of Parliament to renew his mandate as party leader, and thus prime minister. His only declared challenger, John Redwood, got most of the rest.
The victory is a tribute to Major's often underestimated political skills. But Tuesday's margin was probably not emphatic enough to silence future Conservative challengers. Labor now holds a 30-percentage-point lead in the opinion polls for the general election, which must be held by April 1997. Many Conservatives continue to imagine they could fare better under a different leader.
Wednesday Major sought to reinforce his leadership by promoting two potentially dangerous party rivals to higher cabinet rank. Michael Heseltine, a pro-European liberal, becomes deputy prime minister and Michael Portillo, a charismatic champion of the new right, becomes defense secretary. Both stood by Major on Tuesday but might have entered the race in a second round of voting had Redwood inflicted greater damage.
For Americans, Major is a familiar ally. He got off to a bad start with the Clinton administration by transparently favoring George Bush's re-election bid and has since quarreled with Washington over American hospitality to Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein.
But like every postwar British leader, he has maintained a generally pro-American foreign policy and offered stalwart support in crises like the Gulf War. He also deserves credit for his efforts to promote a peaceful resolution of the Northern Ireland conflict.
On Europe, the issue that so divides the Conservatives, Major's centrist position is attractive. The Continental pro- federalism he often opposes sometimes smacks of excessive bureaucracy and interference in the marketplace, while the nationalists on his party's right seem unrealistically nostalgic for the lost days of British Empire and global power.
It is not for the United States to decide the future shape of Europe. But American interests are well served by an active British presence, moderating Continental tendencies toward protectionism and lobbying for lowering trade barriers to countries of the former Soviet bloc.
Five years ago, Major outmaneuvered better-known politicians to succeed Margaret Thatcher after she was toppled in a Conservative Party revolt. A year and a half later he went on to upset the favored Labor Party in general elections. Today he faces far longer odds. But he has earned the right not to be counted out.
-- The New York Times