Sceptics granted freedom of speech

Sir Marcus Fox, chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, is expected to assure the party's Euro-sceptic MPs today that they will not have their election addresses censored by Conservative Central Office.

Senior Tory MPs were last night warning that there would be "hell to pay" if the assurances were not forthcoming at today's meeting of the 1922 Committee.

Tory backbench MPs said Sir Marcus had gone to the party chairman, Brian Mawhinney, to seek assurances that Central Office would not vet the addresses, which MPs are sending to the party headquarters to be printed.

An estimated 150 Tory MPs have included in their election addresses a personal commitment to vote against a single European currency, in defiance of an appeal by Michael Heseltine, the Deputy Prime Minister, not to split the party for the election campaign.

A Tory party source said last night: "There was never any question at all of telling them what to say."

However, it effectively gives carte blanche to Euro-sceptics to break the manifesto policy compromise, which was lashed together at a Cabinet meeting last week, following earlier threats by the Chancellor, Kenneth Clarke, to resign if the Tories went into the election ruling out a single currency.

The Cabinet agreed to fight on the "wait and see" policy, while saying it was "very unlikely" that Britain would be in the first wave to join the single currency in January 1999. It shows the Euro-sceptics are in no mood for compromise in spite of the closeness of the election.

The Euro-sceptic Tory MPs are also threatening to turn up in force to a Commons select committee today considering a move by the European Commission to harmonise artists' resale rights, which the MPs say will amount to a tax on auction houses in Britain.