The Conservative war of words showed no sign of diminishing yesterday as former deputy prime minister, Lord Heseltine, intervened in the leadership race in an attempt to damage Mr Iain Duncan Smith's campaign.
As the two leadership contenders addressed Tory members at opposite ends of the country, senior Conservatives engaged in another round of public condemnation and recrimination over who should succeed Mr William Hague.
Lord Heseltine, who is supporting Mr Kenneth Clarke, launched a stinging attack on the right of the party warning that a victory for Mr Iain Duncan Smith would keep Conservatives out of power for another 15 years. Writing in yesterday's London Evening Standard, Lord Heseltine denounced Lady Thatcher's "dire prediction" that electing Mr Clarke would tear the party apart saying most Tory MPs supported him. And if party members voted for the former chancellor then the majority would have spoken decisively.
"A Duncan Smith victory will tell the British people that the Conservative Party is now only interested in talking to itself. You can imagine the sign hanging outside Tory Central Office: Shop closed - out to lunch," Lord Heseltine said.
Turning his fire on Mr Hague, Lord Heseltine said when he became leader the "leap to the right" got underway as he tried to put "clear blue water" between the Tories and Labour after Mr Blair took over the centre ground of politics. He criticised Mr Hague for abandoning the pragmatic "wait and see" policy on Europe which had served previous Tory administrations and replacing it with "a brand of Euroscepticism, indeed Europhobia, unknown in this country since I first stood as a Conservative candidate in 1959". His criticism came as former Conservative chancellor, Lord Lamont, rounded on former prime minister, Mr John Major, branding his comments during the leadership contest as "a mistake and regrettable." In a BBC interview, Lord Lamont accused Mr Major of being unhelpful when he attacked Baroness Thatcher for undermining his government over Europe.
"I don't think he did any good. I don't think he did himself any good by resurrecting this. I mean Mrs Thatcher had her problems with Ted Heath. It always happens," he said.
"John Major's difficulties as prime minister were not caused by Mrs Thatcher, they were inherent in the situation," he added.
The row among the Tory grandees continued as Mr Duncan Smith called for tolerance over Europe but insisted he would lead the campaign to keep the pound. Addressing party members in the West Midlands, Mr Duncan Smith said the majority of Conservatives were united against the euro: "As a leader I will stand four-square in the middle of that opinion and the party I will lead will oppose entry into the euro and the scrapping of the pound."
Mr Clarke, meanwhile, launched another attack on extreme Eurosceptics warning a shift further to the right would ensure Conservatives were "in opposition for a generation." Touring the West Country where he met party members in Cornwall and Somerset, Mr Clarke told BBC Radio Cornwall: "The idea we should go further to the right and become even more Eurosceptic is, I think, a suggestion that will put us in opposition for a generation.
"That is why it seems to be obvious why we should allow freedom of speech on the single currency which is going to be decided probably some day in a referendum. I don't understand why my formula is supposed to be a recipe for division. I say why don't we just accept we disagree with each other and allow some freedom of speech."
Mr Clarke said he and Mr Duncan Smith had agreed the leadership campaign should stop focusing on internal divisions but he again criticised Lady Thatcher for her intervention earlier this week when she said he would be a disaster as leader.
Meanwhile, it emerged last night that the father of the British National Party chairman was a member to the Mr Duncan Smith's leadership campaign team. Mr Edgar Griffin, father of BNP national chairman Mr Nick Griffin, was vice-chairman of Montgomeryshire Conservative Association and a vice-president on Mr Duncan Smith's campaign. Mr Griffin resigned last night.