MR JOHN MAJOR suffered a hammer blow last night as former party treasurer, Lord McAlpine, announced his defection to Sir James Goldsmith's Referendum Party.
The defection by a close friend and confidante of Lady Thatcher was another cruel reversal for the Prime Minister, on the eve of a Conservative Party conference - set to be dogged by accusations of "sleaze" and continuing divisions over Europe.
Lady Thatcher is due to attend tomorrow's opening session in Bournemouth, and is expected to stage a reconciliation with Mr Major. But the platform's attempts to effect party unity were drowned yesterday by a pre conference blitz from Euro sceptics. They are determined to press Mr Major to rule out joining a single currency in the first wave, and to shift the cabinet's agreed line, if need be losing the Chancellor, Mr Kenneth Clarke, in the process.
Lord McAlpine, who discloses his resignation in tonight's BBC Panorama programme, told Lady Thatcher in advance of his decision. And he was unrepentant last night, insisting: "People talk about traitors and blame people for changing their minds ... I don't need any converting to the point of view of the Referendum Party. I need converting back to the Conservative Party because they don't seem to be very Conservative."
Lord McAlpine disclosed that he had agreed to chair a special conference of the Referendum Party in Brighton on October 19th. Euro sceptic MP, Sir Teddy Taylor, responding to the news, said: "While it is a huge blow to the Conservative Party, it is not surprising bearing in mind the huge upsurge in alarm about our EC membership."
Last year's Conservative conference was overshadowed by the shock defection of MP, Mr Alan Howarth, to Labour. This week's event - the last before the general election - was already preceded by reports that a number of pro European Tories are planning to establish their own "whip" and work with a Blair government.
Mr Major earlier insisted that the Conservatives have "nothing to hide" as a Parliamentary committee prepared to investigate the controversy over the former Trade Minister, Mr Neil Hamilton, who allegedly accepted cash for questions in the House of Commons.
In an interview on BBC 1's Breakfast with Frost programme yesterday, Mr Major said that he had urged Sir Gordon Downey, the Commissioner for Parliamentary Standards, to publish the result of his investigation as quickly as possible.
Mr Major said he "bitterly resented" the implications that there had been an attempt by the Government to cover up the allegations against Mr Hamilton, and said the party as a whole was "straight and honest and honourable".
While Sir Gordon Downey is not empowered to publish the report, Mr Major said he was publicly asking the select committee to whom it will be referred to do so as a matter of urgency.
Fresh allegations were levelled at the government yesterday with the disclosure of an internal government memo, dating back to 1994, which suggested that senior Tories discussed the options available to them to obstruct a parliamentary investigation into Mr Hamilton.
The memo, written by the Paymaster General, Mr David Willetts MP, who was then a government whip, is believed to outline how the Members' Interests Committee investigation might "set aside" the allegations against Mr Hamilton by claiming sub judice. At that time, Mr Hamilton was preparing to sue the Guardian newspaper for libel.