IDS and Hague disowned over Europe

The Tory leader today disowned the views of Iain Duncan Smith and William Hague as he sought to lay to rest a Euro battle that tore the party apart.

Michael Howard, reaffirming that he wanted to play a "positive" role, said he backed the Maastricht Treaty, seen as a big step along the road to a European super state. The treaty, signed by Prime Minister John Major in the early Nineties, triggered a civil war in the party, with Mr Duncan Smith among the leading rebels.

Both Mr Hague and Mr Duncan Smith maintained their hostility when they led the Tories.

But Mr Howard today said that he had supported the negotiation at the time and continued to do so now. Asked on the BBC Today programme whether the treaty was a good thing he said: "On balance, yes".

When it was pointed out that he was disagreeing with the two immediate past leaders of the party, Mr Howard replied: "I am taking the Michael Howard line, surprisingly enough ... I did not always agree with John Major about it, or the others you have mentioned.

"This is my view of how Britain and Europe can have the most constructive relations."

He was meeting German opposition leader Angela Merkel - dubbed Germany's Maggie Thatcher - in Berlin today in a move to rebuild bridges between the Tories and EU parties.