British Leader Suffers Blow As Pr Chief Quits

In a new blow for Prime Minister John Major, his Conservative Party’s public relations chief has quit, accusing the governing party of paralysis and arrogance.

“The Tory party behaves as if they are in office by divine right - and assumes voters will eventually see sense and rally to the flag,” Hugh Colver wrote in the pro-Conservative Sun newspaper Thursday, a day after resigning.

Colver quit six months after taking the $110,600-a-year job at Conservative Party headquarters.

For two years, the Conservatives have trailed in opinion polls behind the opposition Labor Party, which widely is expected to win national elections in May 1997.