Leading article: The long haul back

THE Prime Minister emerges from the unwonted rough and tumble of the Conservative Party's conference in Brighton stronger than he went into it. In his closing speech he restored some of the confidence that had been badly damaged by the events of preceding weeks. It was not a great speech, but it was a skilful one. I may not be Margaret Thatcher, he seemed to be saying, but I am no liberal patsy, either. The applause partly reflected the representatives' desire to heal the wounds of the past few days. John Major's oratory has not lost its somewhat plodding quality, but the party likes it, and it helps to make them feel protective towards him. Their feelings extend to his wife, Norma, as her ovation showed.

The Prime Minister wrapped himself shamelessly in the Union Jack, appealed for national as well as party unity, and left no easy target intact as he milked his audience for support, sympathy and laughs. Understandably, given the requirements of the occasion, he did not confront the Europhobes head on, seeking rather to undercut them with a resonant 'I will never, come hell or high water, let our distinctive identity be lost in a federal Europe' - a danger that, as he knows, does not exist. The Government's European policy was, he stressed, based on 'cold, clear-eyed calculation' and it would not be budged from it. The emotive words exchange rate mechanism did not cross his lips.

Thanks mainly to the European issue, it was a tumultuous conference, one that restored democratic debate to an event regularly accused of being excessively stage-managed. Although the profound rift over Europe looked damaging, the open warfare was also cathartic and, participants agreed, enjoyable. By the end, a shift could be detected. However rapturous the welcome given to the mere arrival of Baroness Thatcher and to Lord Tebbit's speech, both were seen to have overplayed their hand: Lady Thatcher by going public with her blast against Maastricht in the European in the middle of the conference; Lord Tebbit with his naked appeal to ignorant nationalism (he would call it patriotism). When even Sir Bernard Ingham admits that his former boss has damaged herself by seeming to be disloyal, a milestone has been passed. The Europhobes peaked on Wednesday. It was downhill thereafter.

There is a descending order of enthusiasm for the European Community within the party. It is strong in the Cabinet, especially at the weightier top end, where the pressures of the real world are most keenly felt. It is weaker, but still predominant, among MPs. It is flakiest at the level of local associations, some of whose representatives could be seen wildly applauding both pro- and anti-Maastricht speeches. By the end of the conference the Cabinet heavyweights were rubbing their hands with relish at the prospect of completing the rout of those who have long caused them so much trouble.

Norman Lamont remains somewhere in the middle. The Chancellor of the Exchequer had an understandably beleaguered look. His speech on Thursday was lacklustre. He failed to convince the country that there were grounds for renewed confidence in the management of the economy, and his shrunken credibility was not raised by his attempts to pander to the Europhobes ('We must not go back into the ERM unless and until it is right for Britain').

With the issue of Europe at least temporarily defused, attention now focuses on the Government's continuing search for an economic policy. Mr Lamont has already set out some detail in a letter to the Commons Treasury Select Committee. He is not expected to add much of significance when he appears before the committee on Monday. The problem lies not so much with the policy as with the Chancellor. How seriously can one take a minister who seemed relieved to abandon the chief means by which that policy was previously being put into effect?

For Mr Major, the next big challenge will be to restore his own and Britain's credibility as big-league European players at the Birmingham summit meeting on Friday. There will have been some hollow laughs on the Continent at his talk yesterday of Britain leading Europe. On his recent trips to Europe he has cut about as much ice as a Portuguese prime minister; witness the reaction to his demands for reform of the ERM. There is no doubting his determination to keep Britain at the heart of the Community. But it will require diplomacy of a high order just to repair the damage inflicted by the events of the past few weeks. In that, the hostility of the Europhobes in Brighton must be included.