THE Conservative Party's wait and see policy over Europe has been dealt another blow by the defection to the, Referendum Party of the right wing MP, Sir George Gardiner, at the weekend.
Sir George's decision (he is the fourth Tory MP to defect during this parliament) has led several of his former Euro sceptic colleagues to call on Mr Major's government to abandon its stance on Europe and reject outright the idea of joining the single currency in 1999.
Although Conservative Central Office has dismissed Sir George's defection as a fit of pique at his deselection as a Tory MP in Reigate last month, Mr John Redwood MP said he was "worried" about the Referendum Party standing in marginal constituencies.
"It doesn't help me, the Conservative Party or, I think, the country if the Conservatives lose more seats in the election than they would do without the interference of a Referendum Party," Mr Redwood said yesterday.
However, the Health Secretary, Mr Stephen Dorrell, refused to believe Sir George's defection would alter the choices facing the electorate. Instead, he argued, voters would still be faced with a Labour Party that wants to "make this country look more like continental Europe".
Another Euro sceptic MP, Ms Teresa Gorman, said the Tories were in danger of losing Sir George's former seat because voters would feel sympathetic towards him. "Our country is in danger of finding itself entirely run from Brussels, I would be very tempted to vote for him," Ms Gorman said.
Explaining his decision, Sir George said: "I just think he [Mr Major] hasn't really got an instinctive feeling for what the country requires. I do not think that an instinctive Conservative would have considered the possibility of joining a European single currency and putting us on the fast track to a European superstate."
Clearly delighted, the former Tory Party treasurer and now a member of the Referendum Party, Lord McAlpine, said: "It's a great coup for the Referendum Party and it's done wonders for the morale of the people who are working all over the country to try and win seats."
One implication for Mr Major's government is that it must continue to rely on the support of the Ulster Unionists in the Commons.
The government is technically in a minority of two, but while it is not a position the Tories relish, they will gain some comfort from Sir George's promise that the whip can "count on me" in a confidence votes.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Mr Paddy Ashdown, launched his party's election campaign in Cardiff with an attack on the "deadening conformity" of the two bigger parties.
The latest opinion polls give the Liberal Democrats 12.5 per cent of the vote in an elections, compared to 54 per cent for the Labour Party and 28 per cent for the Tories.