Tebbit smashes Tory truce

Michael Howard today faced a dangerous new bout of Tory infighting over his refusal to promise big tax cuts.

Former Conservative chairman Lord Tebbit smashed the party's truce with a blunt warning against adopting a "bland, centrist, politically correct agenda".

He warned that voters could haemorrhage to the United Kingdom Independence Party unless Mr Howard pledged to cut back tax, rein in public spending and have a "punch up" with the European Union.

Lord Tebbit's intervention follows weeks of growing sniping from the party's Thatcherite flank, much of it aimed at shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin, one of the party's key modernisers. The peer said Mr Howard's leadership had "transformed" the party by cutting infighting and rows over European policy. But he claimed the price of unity had been policy fudges which could disenchant Tory voters.

"It is now time for Mr Howard to lead with confidence," he wrote in The Daily Telegraph. "He may offend some voters but that is the price for enthusing far more. Disenchanted Tories will not leave their armchair to fight under a pale beige flag."

Lord Tebbit accused the Opposition leader of trying to "pacify" grandees such as Kenneth Clarke and said he "may have fallen for the spin put on voting statistics by Left-leaning pollsters". "But there are risks in pacification, as opposed to unification through common purpose and policy," he added. "Mr Howard's task is to enthuse Tory voters to turn out, rather than to anaesthetise them into acquiescence of a bland, centrist politically- correct agenda." Warning that legions of Tories could sit on their hands on election day, he quoted St Paul's words: "If the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for battle?"

Lord Tebbit said Labour's spending increases on health and schools had failed to produce matching benefits. "Surely it is possible to return at least a quarter of Gordon Brown's extra £100billion a year in taxation?" he said.

Tensions between Mr Howard and the Tory Right have been growing since Mr Letwin made a keynote speech promising to increase public spending but at a lower rate of increase than Labour.

Meanwhile, new plans to help first-time house buyers were unveiled last night by the Tories. Under the plans, buyers could pay half or two thirds of the total cost of their home - with the rest being borne by the mortgage lender or developer.