Tories split on Thatcher legacy: Major backtracks in Commons over his repudiation of past industrial policy in Independent interview

JOHN MAJOR yesterday tried desperately to cover up Conservative divisions and embarrassment caused by his repudiation of the Thatcher government's attitude towards manufacturing industry.

The defiant denial of the substance of his comments in his interview with the Independent came during Commons exchanges with John Smith, who asked the Prime Minister to explain what he had meant when he had said he was 'in a minority' on the issue in Margaret Thatcher's government.

Mr Major said the Labour leader had been 'misled' by newspaper reports, adding: 'If he had read the source material, he would have read that the question put to me was that the idea got about in the 1980s that making things wasn't so important - not my view, not (Baroness Thatcher's) view, and not the view of the then Government.'

But Mr Major's efforts to distance himself from his own words were then ridiculed by Mr Smith - to the delight of the Labour benches, and evident amusement of some ministers and Conservative backbenchers. He said the Prime Minister could not complain about misrepresentation when he had spoken of inheriting 15 per cent interest rates and 11 per cent inflation on taking over from Mrs Thatcher at the end of 1990.

'Who does he think was the Chancellor in the preceding year?' Mr Smith asked. 'Does he not understand, that if we are to make sense of him, he really means he inherited them from himself?'

But the biggest test of the embarrassing rift exposed by Mr Major came in media interviews with past and present Cabinet colleagues - and behind-the-scenes briefing by the Prime Minister's office, who refused to identify those with whom Mr Major had been in a minority in defence of manufacturing industry.

No 10 discomfort had been compounded by a Daily Mail follow-up of the Independent report, with front-page headlines yesterday saying: 'Major: Maggie got it wrong. Prime Minister's attack opens new split in the Tory Party.'

With ministers battling to beat off a right-wing revolt on the Maastricht treaty legislation in the Commons, the last thing they wanted was a backlash of sympathy for an embattled Baroness Thatcher. But panic reaction from No 10 was later overtaken by a Commons statement from the deputy Speaker which, in effect, killed off the last parliamentary hope of wrecking ratification.

Michael Morris, Tory chairman of the committee examining the legislation, told the House that amendment 443 - the latest attempt to get an all-party majority against Mr Major's treaty package - was out of order.

Earlier, Lord Tebbit, a former Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and fierce Maastricht opponent, suggested in a BBC radio interview that either Mr Major's memory was defective or he had been badly briefed for the Independent interview.

He said the Thatcher government had supported and encouraged manufacturing industry, adding: 'I'm quite sure that if John Major had thought that the policy which he was being asked to pursue was wrong, he would not have accepted a Cabinet post as Chief Secretary. Nor would he have accepted the post as Chancellor of the Exchequer.'

But Lord Howe, who had been Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1979-83, told Channel 4 News: 'It certainly did appear from time to time that we were unfriendly towards manufacturing industry, and I think that was a pity, and we tried very hard to rebut that impression.'

In spite of protestations of innocence, and friendship towards Lady Thatcher - who had not been contacted yesterday by the Prime Minister's office - No 10 agreed with Michael Heseltine, President of the Board of Trade, in conceding there had been a change of policy towards manufacturing industry under Mr Major.

Mr Heseltine, who argued the case for manufacturing after leaving government in 1986, said yesterday: 'What I know is that within the Department of Trade and Industry, there is a sea-change in behaviour, in attitudes, systems.

First of all, there is an acknowledgement of the significance of manufacturing. Secondly, we are putting in place a range of changes which quite obviously have the health of the manufacturing sector as their prime objective.'

Robin Cook, Labour spokesman for trade and industry, said the party had decided to 'press home the embarrassment' of Mr Major's admission of manufacturing neglect in the 1980s - with a Commons debate next Tuesday, on 'The Collapse of Manufacturing Industry'.

Mr Major's standing as Prime Minister continues to slump, according to a Gallup poll in today's Daily Telegraph.

It shows only 27.9 per cent are satisfied with his performance - a fall of nearly half since the general election; 31.6 per cent think John Smith, the Labour leader, would make the best prime minister. In the party ratings, Labour stands 17 per cent ahead of the Conservatives compared with a 12.5 per cent lead just over a month ago. The figures (late January figures in brackets) are: Labour 49 per cent (46 per cent), Conservatives 32 (33.5), Liberal Democrats 14 (15.5), others 5 (5).

Maastricht ruling, page 6

Letters, page 20

Andrew Marr, page 21