PARLIAMENT is poised for its long summer break, but there is no holiday at all for the government's damage-control crew - as yet again the issue of Europe exposes the deep Tory rifts.

For if the speculation proves true that John Major is set to lose a minister - with Paymaster General David Heathcoat-Amory threatening to resign so, it is said, he can publicly campaign against a single European currency - then the Prime Minister must hope that the impact is lost amid the reshuffle of middle-rank ministers he is planning.

Even so, he cannot go on papering over the cracks - not when the looming election will demand a clear manifesto policy from the Tories on the way ahead over Europe, particularly on the issue of the single currency. How can a semblance of unity be maintained in the open when Cabinet big guns like Chancellor Kenneth Clarke, deputy premier Michael Heseltine and Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind are fighting the Euro-sceptic wing's bid to have the Tories go to the country promising to rule out a single currency for the lifetime of the next parliament.

John Major must hope that doubts in the rest of the EU about the Euro - and concern whether all the partners can actually meet the terms for convergence on time - must come to the boil so that the splits in the his party look more like part of that development than open civil war among the Tories at general election time.

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