The Press : Britain’s Top Tory Toughs It Out

British Prime Minister John Major, the son of a circus acrobat, did a fair turn on the political high wire last week, turning back a challenge from within his own party.

The Conservatives, or Tories, do not have to face a general election against the resurgent Labor Party until spring of 1997 at the latest, and getting them in order was the goal of the steady but somewhat colorless, 52-year-old Major.

Emerging from his offices at 10 Downing St. after the intraparty election, which gave him two-thirds of the votes against challenger John Redwood, a 44-year-old former Cabinet minister, Major declared the results “very clear-cut” and a decision that “put to rest any question about the leadership” up to the next election.

Political analysts were not so positive in their reading of the result, pointing out that a sizable minority among the Tories remain unhappy with Major’s leadership. The opposition centers largely around the longstanding party divisions on British integration with its Continental neighbors.

Meanwhile, the Tories trail Labor by nearly 30 percentage points in recent polls. Major will have to show the family agility again to keep his government in power.