Major tries to heal business rift

John Major yesterday set about healing the rift between the Government and business leaders caused by his deputy, Michael Heseltine, by highlighting the "glittering" economic prospects that 18 years of Tory rule had created. The Prime Minister used a London breakfast for business chiefs to stress the key importance of firms large and small to the creation of a healthy economic climate and attacked Labour's "jackdaw tendency" to steal policies devised by the Conservatives.

The centre-left think-tank, which was the butt of Mr Heseltine's criticisms last night, hit back at the Deputy Prime Minister's claims that it may have breached charity commission rules. He described the Institute for Public Policy Research as a "front organisation for the Labour Party". "The IPPR is not a front for the Labour Party. It has charitable status like the Institute for Economic Affairs and the Social Market Foundation," said an IPPR source. "It's ridiculous. He must be losing his marbles." Leading article, page 15