John Major to enter the electoral fray this week

David Cameron’s inner circle are always keen to talk up the parallels between this campaign and 1992. This week, the winner of that election will enter the fray on their behalf. As I report in the Mail on Sunday, John Major will give a speech warning of the dangers to the Union itself if the United Kingdom ends up with a Labour government propped up by the SNP.

The Tories hope that Major’s intervention will elevate this point above the usual party political knockabout. They also believe that a former Prime Minister speaking out will make voters pay attention; they were much struck by how much coverage Tony Blair’s speech on the dangers of an EU referendum received a few weeks back.

That the Tories have asked Major to get involved is telling. In times of trouble, Cameron has repeatedly called on the last Tory Prime Minister to help him. In 2007, when the Tories were fearful of Gordon Brown calling a snap election, it was Major who condemned him for going to Iraq to announce troop withdrawals during Tory conference.