SCOTS comedian Rory Bremner inadvertently staved off a Tory rebellion against John Major, new files have revealed.

The Edinburgh-born impressionist contacted several Conservative MPs in 1993 as an “experiment” to test his impersonation of the Prime Minister, documents from the National Archives state. 

However, his performance was so convincing that some MPs refused to believe it was not Mr Major, even when they were repeatedly told it was a hoax. They also agreed to back down in their criticism of the PM as a result. 

Mr Bremner, impersonating Mr Major, had phoned Eurosceptic MPs Richard Body, John Carlisle and Anne Winterton asking them for help, as Mr Major prepared for the upcoming Conservative party conference in Blackpool.

The party had been plagued with infighting over Europe, and Mr Bremner, pretending to be the Prime Minister, had asked the three MPs to “lay off”. 

He had claimed to be phoning from Malaysia where Mr Major was on an official visit.

The Herald:

When one of the MPs contacted Downing Street, Cabinet Secretary Sir Robin Butler tried to tell them the calls were a hoax but they found it hard to believe. 

Sir Richard Body in particular was so taken in by Bremner’s impersonation he refused to accept he had not been speaking to Mr Major until 10 days later. 

According to the official note of their conversation, he told the Cabinet Secretary it was “a very good thing” the Prime Minister had made the call. 

The note states: “Butler said that he had not made the call. 

“Body replied: ‘Well, you say that. But I can’t find any reason to criticise him for doing so.’ He had ‘rung around’ and they had ‘all agreed to lay off’. 

When Sir Robin told him Mr Major’s itinerary meant it was “physically impossible” for him to have made the calls, Sir Richard insisted he must have “slipped away” to do so.

The note continues: “Body repeated that he did not think this was an impressionist. 

[He said]: “Butler should tell the prime minister that the call had saved his bacon. ‘We sent word around to back him up at least until after the conference. He was obviously in a bad state. Now he is obviously regretting it. But I know his voice.’ 

“Body had spoken after the call to John Carlisle. They had both agreed that they should back the Prime Minister up, and help to carry the Government through. 

“They had spoken to their ‘whips’ [Body indicated that he meant the unofficial whips of their group]. They had taken the heat off the Prime Minister. If John Major had made that call, he had done himself a good turn.” 

A note two years later concerns another call Mr Bremner made impersonating the Prime Minister, this time to Esther Rantzen. 

The note reads: “You may have seen the attached piece in today’s Daily Express reporting that Rory Bremner has rung Esther Rantzen pretending to be the Prime Minister. 

“I rang John Birt (it is the BBC who put on Comic Relief) and reminded him of our past experience with phone calls to Richard Body, etc. He remembered hearing of it at the time.

“I said I did not wish to be a killjoy – and the conversation with Esther Rantzen seemed innocuous – but we would be concerned if Rory Bremner was ringing political figures. 

“And in any case I thought it was important that Rory Bremner should always identify himself at the end of a phone call if the victim had not already guessed it was a hoax, and should  seek agreement before any such conversation was broadcast.” 

Asked what he thought of the revelations about his prank calls, Mr Bremner said he had “no idea” how much of a help he had really been to the Prime Minister at the time.

He said: “I give up. You think you’re being satirical but the reality is even more farcical. 

“I had no idea we’d thwarted a rebellion and saved John Major’s bacon.

“Honestly, who’d have thought that without a spoof phone call, a group of Eurosceptic backbenchers might have forced the PM to resign and taken us out of the EU. What are the chances of that?”