Test Time for John Major

...Disturbing unsubstantiated rumors have begun to circulate about the Prime Minister's private life, and they could only have come from Tory circles...

...Similarly, Major's readiness to resolve differences with other European Community members to bolster the nation's economy, even at the expense of British sovereignty, alarms his right flank...

...What's more, in contrast to most of the representations in the museum, his is a good likeness...

...Although the Labor Party discreetly supported Major's popular Gulf war policies, with the conclusion of Operation Desert Storm it wasted no time in mounting a political offensive...

...The Tory dissidents are not large in number, but they include several prominent political figures, such as former Cabinet members Cecil Parkinson and Norman Tebbitt...

...While the government struggled to devise a workable replacement for the poll tax, Lawson—who is not a Thatcherite—rose in Parliament and, speaking of Major, said: "To appear to be unable to choose is to appear to be unable to govern...

...He and Kinnock are more evenly matched...

...But given the pervasiveness of the country's economic woes, the Tories are likely to experience a further erosion of their popularity, and Major himself will continue to be under intense pressure...

...A handful of Tories seem willing to go so far as to lose the next election, if that is the only way they can oust Major and preserve their party's image...

...The situation is already getting nasty...

...And occasionally nurse does take public exception to government policies, thus fulfilling her prediction that she would serve as a backseat driver...

...They are uncomfortable with his "social market" approach, because it identifies social issues as a much more important area of government concern than did the previous administration...

...yet it is certain that a few do subscribe to Hilaire Belloc's admonition, '...always keep a'hold of nurse/for fear of finding something worse...

...He appears to be exactly what he is—a nice, inoffensive man with little of either the deviousness or dynamism common to most previous British leaders...

...The question now, therefore, is whether he will emerge from this testing time as the accepted Conservative Party leader, and as a Prime Minister who appears capable of dealing successfully with Britain's problems...

...He was further said to be exhausted from the pressures of the Gulf conflict and its aftermath, and from his recent extensive series of overseas trips...

...These people, who tend to be especially particular about where they dine, are appalled to find themselves being led by someone content to stop for eggs and chips at a greasy fast food joint en route to a speaking engagement out of town...

...Popular affection for him remains widespread, albeit low-keyed—nothing like the devotion Margaret Thatcher inspired in many people, but then again nothing like the feeling of abomination she aroused in many others...

...In addition, a new organization has sprung up, called Conservative Way Forward...

...In truth, it is not easy to devise local taxes that are both fair and durable, but Opposition politicians have never been in the business of making excuses for a Prime Minister...

...Norman Gelb writes regularly for The New Leader on British affairs...

...Opposition spokesmen quickly seized upon the spiteful stab at the Prime Minister to reinforce their own attack on the government...

...Unemployment keeps inching up...

...Dedicated Thatcherites are wary of Major's efforts to refashion the thrust of their party's policies...

...small businesses, and some large ones, continue to go under...

...Ordinary—is simply the wrong man in the wrong job...

...At the same time, her unwavering "I-am-in-charge" approach to governing gave most of them a feeling of security, particularly when Conservative fortunes were in a period of decline...

...Many Tories had tired of Thatcher's bossiness and refusal to acknowledge the existence of Britain's social problems...

...To some Conservatives, John Major—Mr...

...Though the economic slump in Britain has been showing signs of abating, it is still taking a toll...

...Muttertags about his limited scholastic background finally drew from Major the uncharacteristically malicious gibe that most of those he knows who have impressive academic qualifications are "useless" because they lack common sense...

...Major's performance in Parliament also compares unfavorably to that of his predecessor...

...It was too much to expect, of course, that Thatcher's successor would long be sheltered by the general admiration he won when the ruling Conservatives in Parliament elected him to Britain's highest office...

...Thatcher was (and remains) a forceful, dynamic personality...

...Despite the group's claim that it stands "totally united behind John Major," its very formation is widely recognized as an attempt to keep him in check...

...It would be stretching things to suggest that, for Tory MPs, Thatcher's reign felt like a return to their comforting, governess-run childhood days...

...Few here doubted that the various factions within the Tory Party would eventually start to maneuver for position...

...They resent the fact, too, that notwithstanding their own considerable academic achievements at Oxford or Cambridge, the leader of the party they have faithfully served for years did not attend the poorest excuse of a university, and barely made it through high school...

...The London Times reported not long ago that "doctors both amateur and professional who have observed John Major in recent days have concluded that the Prime Minister's state of health is somewhat less than wholly agreeable...

...Public opinion surveys have revealed a decline in the Conservatives' approval rating for other reasons as well...

...Speculation about the Prime Minister's health has added to his burdens...

...Atthemoment,though, an attack on the Prime Minister from within his own party may be of greater significance than any from Labor...

...One of the harshest blows has come from former Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson, under whom Major served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, apparently to their mutual satisfaction...

...They assume a Labor takeover would result in chaos and would be cut short by the voters, permitting a Thatcherite revival...

...This has hardly helped Major as he tries to keep his party united and establish his own leadership credentials...

...An element of snobbishness is involved in all of this...

...increasing numbers of people are being forced to sell their homes because they can't meet their mortgage payments...

...Major, an articulate and confident man, is nonetheless an uninspiring speaker...

...An effigy of the Prime Minister has been installed at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum on London's Marylebone Road, where each day throngs of tourists queue up to enter what they have been led to believe is one of this capital's main attractions...

...In Parliamentary debate, she regularly topped Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock, making him appear an unlikely threat to Tory rule...

...He was said to never have fully recovered from the infected wisdom tooth torment that he suffered last winter during his bid to be chosen the Conservative Party leader...

...Nor would it be natural for the Labor Party and the smaller Social and Liberal Democratic Party to go on holding their fire...

...however, his government's delay in producing a substitute exposed him to charges of incompetence...

...A favorite target was the hated, cumbersome, inequitable poll tax, introduced by Thatcher to replace property levies in financing local government...

...Major declared upon taking office that the poll tax should be repealed...

...It was a huge mistake and largely responsible for her political demise...

...Major's reputation was helped by his having had "agood war, a purely accidental advantage resulting from the brevity of the Gulf fighting and the surprisingly few casualties suffered by British troops...

...Meanwhile, a number of Conservative figures have been publicly complaining that Major is indecisive, dithering and ready to compromise party principles...

...Indeed, more were killed by American friendly fire than by the Iraqis, a fact accepted philosophically here...

...The end of Major's Parliamentary honeymoon was signaled by a vigorous Opposition assault on Tory domestic programs...

...The right-wing leader of the Young Conservatives, Murdo Fraser, recently declared that the Tories simply do not know where they stand with Major in charge...

...After several months at 10 Downing Street, Major retains that imageofadecent, if unexciting, bloke doing his notoverly-spectacular best to sort out the country's considerable troubles...

...It is not really surprising that Major's honeymoon months in office, which were virtually free of criticism, have produced a powerful backlash...