Editing William Hague (section)

==Early life and education==
[[File:Magdalen-may-morning-2007-panorama.jpg|thumb|right|Magdalen College, Oxford]]
Hague was born on 26 March 1961 in [[Rotherham]], [[West Riding of Yorkshire]], England.<ref name=whoswho>{{Who's Who | author=Anon| title = Hague of Richmond | id = U18549 | year = 2017 | doi =10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U18549 | edition = online [[Oxford University Press]]|location=Oxford}}</ref> He initially boarded at [[Ripon Grammar School]] and then attended [[Wath Academy|Wath-upon-Dearne Comprehensive School]],<ref>{{Cite web|date=3 January 1999|title=Two die of meningitis at Hague's old school|url=http://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/jan/03/johnarlidge1|access-date=31 October 2021|website=The Guardian|language=en|archive-date=14 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014003143/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/jan/03/johnarlidge1|url-status=live}}</ref> a state secondary school near Rotherham. His parents, Nigel and Stella Hague, ran a soft drinks manufacturing business where he worked during school holidays.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8681285.stm | work=BBC News | title=Profile: William Hague | date=14 May 2010 | access-date=21 July 2010 | archive-date=8 November 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108113040/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11158667 | url-status=live }}</ref>

He first made the national news at the age of 16 by addressing the Conservatives at their [[Party conference season|1977 Annual National Conference]]. In his speech he told the delegates: "half of you won't be here in 30 or 40 years' time..., but that others would have to live with consequences of a Labour Government if it stayed in power".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/the_daily_politics/6967366.stm |title=Your favourite Conference Clips |date=3 October 2007 |work=[[The Daily Politics]] |publisher=BBC |access-date=28 September 2008 |archive-date=15 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215010700/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/the_daily_politics/6967366.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Writing in his diary at the time [[Kenneth Rose]] noted that [[Peter Carrington]]  told him that "he and several other frontbench Tories were nauseated by the much-heralded speech of a sixteen-year-old schoolboy called William Hague. Peter said to [[Norman St John-Stevas]]: 'If he is as priggish and self-assured as that at sixteen, what will he be like in thirty years' time? Norman replied: 'Like [[Michael Heseltine]]'".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rose |first1=Kenneth |author-link1=Kenneth Rose |editor1-last=Thorpe |editor1-first=D. R. |editor1-link=D. R. Thorpe |title=Who's In, Who's Out: The Journals of Kenneth Rose, Volume One |date=2018 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |pages=591–592 |isbn=978-1-4746-0154-2 |chapter=15 October 1977}}</ref>

Hague read [[Philosophy, politics and economics]] at [[Magdalen College, Oxford]], graduating with first-class honours "after last-minute cramming".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lambert |first=Georgia |date=2024-09-22 |title=William Hague: Why I want to be Oxford chancellor |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/william-hague-why-i-want-to-be-oxford-chancellor-kj66swp3z |access-date=2024-12-19 |website=www.thetimes.com |language=en}}</ref> He was President of the [[Oxford University Conservative Association]] (OUCA), but was "convicted of electoral malpractice" in the election process of his successor.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/through-a-beer-glass-darkly-637621.html |title=Through a beer glass darkly&nbsp;– Profiles, People |work=The Independent |date=5 October 2000 |access-date=22 May 2010 |location=London |first=Michael |last=Crick |archive-date=13 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513090502/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/through-a-beer-glass-darkly-637621.html |url-status=live }}</ref> OUCA's official historian, [[David Blair (journalist)|David Blair]], notes that Hague was actually elected on a platform pledging to clean up OUCA, but that this was "tarnished by accusations that he misused his position as Returning Officer to help the [[Magdalen College, Oxford|Magdalen]] candidate for the presidency, Peter Havey. Hague was playing the classic game of using his powers as President to keep his faction in power, and Havey was duly elected.... There were accusations of blatant ballot box stuffing".<ref>Blair, David, and ed. Andrew Page, ''The History of the Oxford University Conservative Association'' (OUCA, Oxford, 1995), p. 33.</ref> He also served as [[President of the Oxford Union]], an established route into politics.<ref>{{cite news |first=Nicholas D.|last= Kristof |title=Hacking A Path to Downing Street |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/08/14/hacking-a-path-to-downing-street/37bf3ec4-efb6-444c-ac6d-7daf4c89bbd7/ |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=12 December 2023 |date=14 August 1982}}</ref>

After Oxford, Hague went on to study for a [[Master of Business Administration]] (MBA) degree at [[INSEAD]], where he graduated with Distinction in 1986. He often refers to the year he spent there, living in [[Fontainebleau]] with friends from all over the world, as one of the happiest of his life.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BIOGRAPHY |url=https://www.williamhague.com/biography |access-date=2024-12-11 |website=William Hague |language=en}}</ref> After the MBA, Hague got recruited and then worked as a [[management consultant]] at [[McKinsey & Company]], where [[Archie Norman]] was his mentor.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/mar/20/profiles.parliament|title=Archie Norman|work=The Guardian|date=20 March 2001|access-date=6 April 2008|location=London|first=Andrew|last=Roth|archive-date=18 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118104918/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/mar/20/profiles.parliament|url-status=live}}</ref>