A STRING of Tory former ministers joined forces last night to pile the pressure on Mr Majors over government policy on a European single currency.
The former Cabinet minister Mr John Redwood, the former Paymaster General, Mr David Heathcoat Amory, and the former Tory chairman, Lord Tebbit all claimed the Prime Minister could act without losing British influence in negotiations over economic and monetary union.
With the Defence Secretary, Mr Michael Portillo, urging Britain to look beyond a "fortress Europe", it left only the European Commissioner, Sir Leon Brittan, to argue forcefully the case for the Euro enthusiasts.
But if the battle for the heart of European policy was fought out exclusively on the fringes of conference yesterday, tomorrow sees the tussle switch to the conference floor.
The conference opens with the key debate on foreign affairs and Europe, and party managers will be hoping the increasingly dominant mood in the bars around the conference hall in favour of ruling out EMU at least for the next parliament does not spill out on to the floor. That could be embarrassing for Mr Major, who insisted robustly on Sunday that there would be no change in the government's wait and see policy.
The Prime Minister knows he must keep single currency options open or risk losing his Chancellor, Mr Kenneth Clarke.
Mr Redwood last night told a fringe meeting packed with around 300 party members that Mr Major could all but rule out a single currency simply by insisting that other EU member states play by the rules.
Mr Redwood warned Mr Major "It is not going to be possible for either major party to get through an election campaign saying it does not know whether it wishes to abolish the pound or not, when a decision will have to be taken on this crucial matter so soon after the election."
. Sweeping new powers to try to turn the rising tide of crime were announced by the Home Secretary, Mr Michael Howard. He told the conference that a major crime Bill would be published within a month, with the aim of becoming law by next spring.
It includes plans to seize alcohol from drunken youths on the streets give youth courts the discretion to name juvenile offenders immediately shut down clubs being used for drug pushing set up a register of paedophiles allow courts to remove driving licences from anyone convicted of a crime and prosecute "sex tourists" for offences committed abroad.