Major refuses to appear at press conference

Edwina Currie went on the offensive against her former lover John Major yesterday and, by last night, her accusations appeared to have battered him into silence.

The pitch of Ms Currie's attack reached the realms of hyberbole as she launched into a round of broadcast interviews, describing his ill-fated Back to Basics campaign as "evil" and accusing him of behaving "atrociously".

But if observers had expected a fightback from the former prime minister, they were disappointed. Mr Major pulled out of a press conference accompanying a charity dinner he was attending in Dallas, Texas, for fear of awkward personal questions.

Ms Currie also criticised Mr Major's treatment of the former Downing Street caterer Clare Latimer. Ms Latimer won a libel action after wrongly being accused of having an affair with Mr Major. It has been suggested Mr Major encouraged her to sue to hide his affair with Ms Currie.

The affair ended because the pair were "running practical risks", particularly because the IRA was "chasing us around", Ms Currie said. "For John to give his bodyguards the slip would have been to put him in a seriously dangerous situation."