THE British Labour Party leader, Mr Tony Blair, was struggling last night to hold his party together over the controversial decision by Ms Harriet Harman to send her son to a selective grammar school.
As the shadow health secretary fought to retain her position with backbenchers in open revolt Mr John Major tried to exploit the Labour leader's clear embarrassment over the issue.
At Westminster Tory MPs were alleging a potentially dangerous rift among the Labour leadership. They insisted, in the face of firm denials from senior Labour figures, that Mr Blair was at logger heads with the deputy party leader, Mr John Prescott.
Mr Blair threw his weight behind Ms Harman as the bitter dispute threatened to escalate into a full blown crisis. But criticism of Ms Harman grew among backbenchers who denounced the "hypocrisy" of her decision to ignore party policy and send her 11 year old son to a grant maintained school, St Olave's, in Orpington, Kent.
Mr Major was cheered to the rafters as he told the Labour leader "You should not be so sensitive about your difficulties just want to be tough on hypocrisy and tough on the causes of hypocrisy." Mr Blair said "I will not buckle."
A left wing Labour MP, Mr Terry Lewis, broke ranks to publicly demand the resignation of Ms Harman for breaching official party policy. And there was powerful behind the scenes anger on the Labour backbenches at what many MPs saw as the failure of Mr Blair to take a tough line in ending the growing crisis.
Mr. Blair was expected to face criticism at a meeting of his parliamentary party in advance of a shadow cabinet meeting today.