Major Quits As Conservative Chief British Prime Minister Tells Critics To Put Up Or Shut Up

British Prime Minister John Major abruptly resigned as head of the feud-wracked Conservative Party Thursday, defying his critics to “put up or shut up” by challenging him in a party leadership election on July 4.

At a news conference that sent jaws dropping across the country, Major said that endless intraparty sniping, media predictions of his imminent political demise and “phony threats” to oust him were undermining his leadership. “I am no longer prepared to tolerate the present situation,” he said.

If Major loses the leadership vote - a secret ballot by Conservative members of the House of Commons - he will have to resign as prime minister. But Thursday night, few expected him to be toppled, and the most logical contenders - all members of Major’s cabinet - ruled themselves out as candidates.

Major’s tactic is apparently based on a calculation that politically weak as he is, no one in the party is stronger. By daring his critics to prove him wrong, party political tacticians said, Major believes he can reap a double harvest; he can appear bold and decisive, and at the same time head off perhaps a more substantial challenge this fall at the party’s annual conference.

The risk, apart from a surprise defeat in the parliamentary ballot, is that a substantial number of legislators could abstain, further destabilizing Major’s government. His “make-my-day” show of strength would then become a pathetic show of weakness, encouraging his ouster later this year.

The Conservative Party is setting records for low opinion-poll ratings, and few politicians give it any chance of winning a general election - either now or in 1997, the latest one could legally be held. While no one here regards Major as a crowdpleaser, few believe he is solely responsible for the party’s plight or that any other leader would improve its chances. The party problem, most analysts say, runs deeper.

In power for 16 years - first under Margaret Thatcher and since 1990 under Major - the Conservatives seem each week to suffer a new scandal, a local election wipeout or some other humiliation. The most recent was the decision by Shell U.K. to cancel plans to scuttle an obsolete oil storage platform off the Scottish coast even while Major was standing up in Parliament vigorously defending the operation.

The most serious internal division - and the source of much plotting against Major - concerns Britain’s future role in the 15-nation European Union. A boisterous wing of the Conservatives in Parliament believes - along with Thatcher - that the country has sold its soul and sovereignty to the EU. Their latest demand, rejected by Major, is for a declaration by the prime minister that Britain will never adopt the planned single European currency.

Under party rules, Major would not have faced a leadership contest until the party assembly this fall, but by his announcement - at a Downing Street news conference called with an hour’s notice - he created a vacancy.

He framed the challenge with a final flourish, declaring: “The Conservative Party must make its choice. In short, it is time to put up or shut up. I have nothing more to say this afternoon.”