THE Prime Minister, Mr John Major, attempted to reassert his authority over the Conservative Party yesterday by stressing that he will be not be "pushed off" his policies following Baroness Thatcher's contemptuous dismissal of his "one nation" views.
Determined to put on a brave face, Mr Major suggested the media had not read Lady Thatcher's speech carefully, but resisted the temptation to criticise his predecessor's stinging accusation that his government's policies had failed Britain's middle classes.
"I will not be pushed off what I believe to be right. .. We have always been a one nation Conservative party since the beginning of time and we are now. How can one possibly have a two nation party of any sort?" he asked.
As left wing Tory MPs queued up to denounce Lady Thatcher's call for the party to move further to the right, Mr Major, who was privately said to be "livid" over her stance, repeatedly stressed that under his premiership the Conservatives would continue to pursue centre right policies.
Lady Thatcher is a very important part of the Conservative Party. The Conservative Party, as I have been saying for a long time, is a broad church. Every part of that Conservative Party has an input into that policy. When we have that input into our policy, we set out what it is and we live and we win in the centre right of policies", he said.
Social Security Minister, Mr Peter Lilley, one of four prominent right wing Tories once denounced as "bastards" by Mr Major, yet individually praised by Lady Thatcher also criticised the media for portraying her speech as dividing the party and reopening old Tory wounds.
"Five lines you've managed to blow up out of all proportion. The rest of it you totally ignored. What's in the rest of it includes a very extensive, detailed and effective demolition job on Tony Blair and the Labour Party," he insisted.
However, left wing Tories, derided by Lady Thatcher as "no nation Tories," accused her of betraying the party and warned she will never be forgiven.
Mr Jerry Hayes, MP for Harlow, denounced her disloyalty, while Sir Julian Critchley, MP for Aldershot, said "Lady Thatcher ought really to retire and open a tea shop in Bury St Edmunds. Then we should all be left in peace.
Lord Howe, her former deputy prime minister, whose resignation speech prompted Lady Thatcher's eventual downfall, accused her of being unable to see beyond her own obsessive hostility to Europe.
"One nation Tories are no nation Tories is a glib phase and it is an expensive one. For any Conservative leader to be capable of delivering that sentence is to represent a profound misunderstanding of the long term purpose of the Tory party".
"I fear it is her latter day obsession with that question (Europe) that risks doing so much damage to her own reputation and even in the last resort to the achievements of the government in which we all worked together", he said.
Not surprisingly, the Labour Party was determined to exploit Mr Major's woes yet again. Mr John Prescott, the deputy leader, challenged all the cabinet ministers to publicly state which leader they now supported.
Are they Thatcherites or Majorites? Alter today they cannot be both", he said.
Earlier, Ms Emma Nicholson, the former Tory MP who defected to the Liberal Democrats last month, was jostled as she arrived to hold her first constituency surgery. However, Ms Nicholson appeared unperturbed by the situation, stating "I like a lively electorate, it shows democracy is still with us."
Ms Nicholson added that Lady Thatcher's speech had wounded Mr Major's position and had left him with a "no hope party for the general election."