Editing William Hague (section)

===Leadership of the Conservative Party===
{{see also|Shadow Cabinet of William Hague}}
{{see also|1997 Conservative Party leadership election}}
[[File:William Hague MP (3156637603) (cropped).jpg|thumb|Hague in 2008]]
Following the [[1997 United Kingdom general election|1997 general election]] defeat, Hague was [[1997 Conservative Party leadership election|elected Leader]] of the Conservative Party in succession to John Major, defeating more experienced figures such as [[Kenneth Clarke]] and [[Michael Howard]]. At the age of 36, Hague was tasked with rebuilding the Conservative Party (fresh from their worst general election result of the 20th century)<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/673348.stm | work=BBC News | title=John Major: A life in politics | date=28 September 2002 | access-date=1 July 2011 | archive-date=4 April 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080404085402/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/673348.stm | url-status=live }}</ref> by attempting to build a more modern image. £250,000 was spent on the "Listening to Britain" campaign to try to put the Conservatives back in touch with the public after losing power; he welcomed ideas about "[[compassionate conservatism]]" including from the then-[[Governor of Texas]], later President [[George W. Bush]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/317507.stm |title=The all new William Hague |work=BBC News |date=13 April 1999 |access-date=1 July 2008 |archive-date=2 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090302161828/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/317507.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Hague led the Conservatives to a successful result at the [[1999 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|European parliamentary elections]] in June 1999, where the Conservatives gained 18 [[MEPs]] compared to [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]'s loss of 33 MEPs.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/events/euros_99/news/368508.stm | work=BBC News | title=Tories celebrate Euro poll success | date=14 June 1999 | access-date=22 April 2011 | archive-date=13 July 2004 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040713060629/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/events/euros_99/news/368508.stm | url-status=live }}</ref>

Hague's authority was challenged by the appointment of [[Michael Portillo]] as [[Shadow Chancellor]] in 2000. Portillo had been widely tipped to be the next Conservative Party Leader before [[Portillo moment|dramatically losing his seat]] at the [[1997 United Kingdom general election|1997 general election]]; he was elected as MP for Kensington and Chelsea at a [[1999 Kensington and Chelsea by-election|by-election]] two years later.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1383605.stm | work=BBC News | title=Portillo, the Thatcherite who turned | date=13 June 2001 | access-date=22 April 2011 | archive-date=22 January 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080122011636/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1383605.stm | url-status=live }}</ref> Soon after Portillo's return to Parliament, Conservative policy on two of Labour's flagship policies was reversed: the [[minimum wage]] and independence of the [[Bank of England]]. From then and until the [[2001 United Kingdom general election|2001 general election]] Hague's supporters waged an increasingly bitter battle with Portillo's faction; such internecine infighting significantly contributed to the Conservatives' two subsequent election defeats.

Hague was widely ridiculed for claiming he used to drink "14&nbsp;pints of beer a day" as a teenager.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/871543.stm |work=BBC News |title=Hague: I drank 14&nbsp;pints a day |date=8 August 2000 |access-date=27 March 2010 |archive-date=2 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070902220346/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/871543.stm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Telegraph_1351951">{{Cite news | title = Hague's 14 pints a day boast falls flat in his home town | last = Sparrow | first = Andrew | work = [[The Daily Telegraph]] | date = 9 August 2000 | access-date = 26 March 2015 | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1351951/Hagues-14-pints-a-day-boast-falls-flat-in-his-home-town.html | archive-date = 17 December 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201217105554/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1351951/Hagues-14-pints-a-day-boast-falls-flat-in-his-home-town.html | url-status = live }}</ref> His reputation suffered further damage when a 2001 poll for ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' found that 66% of voters considered him to be "a bit of a [[wikt:wally|wally]]", and 70% of voters believed he would "say almost anything to win votes".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/talking_politics/1162569.stm |title=Poll monitor: Labour looks hard to beat |work=BBC News |date=9 February 2001 |access-date=29 September 2007 |archive-date=12 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312082816/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/talking_politics/1162569.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

===="Foreign Land" speech====
At a [[Party conference season|Party Conference]] speech in March 2001, Hague said:

{{blockquote|We have a Government that has contempt for the views of the people it governs.

There is nothing that the British people can talk about that this Labour Government doesn't deride.

Talk about Europe and they call you extreme. Talk about tax and they call you greedy. Talk about crime and they call you reactionary. Talk about immigration and they call you racist; talk about your nation and they call you Little Englanders.... This Government thinks Britain would be all right if we had a different people. I think Britain would be all right, if only we had a different government.

A Conservative government that speaks with the voice of the British people.

A Conservative government never embarrassed or ashamed of the British people.

A Conservative government that trusts the people [....] This country must always offer sanctuary to those fleeing from injustice. Conservative Governments always have, and always will. But it's precisely those genuine refugees who are finding themselves elbowed aside.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/mar/04/conservatives.speeches |title=Hague's 'foreign land' speech |work=The Guardian |date=4 March 2001 |access-date=13 July 2008 |location=London |archive-date=16 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216151850/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/mar/04/conservatives.speeches |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

Former Conservative Deputy Prime Minister [[Michael Heseltine]], a prominent [[One-nation conservatism|One-nation Conservative]], was critical of Hague's [[Euroscepticism|Eurosceptic view]] that Britain was becoming a "foreign land", betraying in newspaper interviews that he was uncertain as to whether he could support a Hague-led Conservative Party.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1201755.stm |work=BBC News |title=Hague plays 'patriot' card |date=4 March 2001 |access-date=27 March 2010 |archive-date=20 February 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060220102500/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1201755.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Skill in debate====
Hague's critics assiduously monitored his performance at [[Prime Minister's Questions]] each Wednesday in Parliament, having difficulty to find fault.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1908959.ece | title=Back in the Tory fold, while they're a winning team | work=[[The Times]] | location=London | date=10 June 2007 | access-date=27 March 2010 | first=Martin | last=Ivens | archive-date=29 April 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429085429/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1908959.ece | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/jun/24/politics.houseofcommons | work=The Guardian | title=Wit, oratory&nbsp;– and evasion. A master debater at work | location=London | first=Alastair | last=Campbell | date=24 June 2007 | access-date=27 March 2010 | archive-date=31 August 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130831115413/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/jun/24/politics.houseofcommons | url-status=live }}</ref> During one particular exchange, while responding to the [[Queen's Speech]] of 2000, Hague attacked [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Tony Blair]]'s record:

{{blockquote|In more than 20 years in politics, he has betrayed every cause he believed in, contradicted every statement he has made, broken every promise he has given and breached every agreement that he has entered into.... There is a lifetime of U-turns, errors and sell-outs. All those Honourable Members who sit behind the Prime Minister and wonder whether they stand for anything any longer, or whether they defend any point of principle, know who has led them to that sorry state.<ref name=Queen>{{cite web |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200001/cmhansrd/vo001206/debtext/01206-06.htm#01206-06_spnew3 |title=House of Commons Hansard Debates for 6&nbsp;Dec 2000 (pt 6) |work=Hansard |access-date=13 July 2008 |archive-date=27 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080627115305/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200001/cmhansrd/vo001206/debtext/01206-06.htm#01206-06_spnew3 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

Blair responded by criticising what he saw as Hague's "[[bandwagon effect|bandwagon politics]]":

{{blockquote|... he started the [[fuel protest]] bandwagon, then the floods bandwagon; on defence it became armour-plated, then on [[NATS Holdings|air traffic control]] it became airborne.... Yes, the Right Honourable gentleman made a very witty, funny speech, but it summed up his leadership: good jokes, lousy judgment. I am afraid that in the end, if the Right Honourable gentleman really aspires to stand at this [[despatch box]], he will have to get his policies sorted out and his party sorted out, and offer a vision for the country's future, not a vision that would take us backwards.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200001/cmhansrd/vo001206/debtext/01206-08.htm#01206-08_spmin2|title=House of Commons Hansard Debates for 6&nbsp;Dec 2000 (pt 8)|work=Hansard|access-date=18 September 2017|archive-date=18 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018062230/https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200001/cmhansrd/vo001206/debtext/01206-08.htm#01206-08_spmin2|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

====Resignation====
On the morning of Labour's second consecutive landslide victory at the [[2001 United Kingdom general election|2001 general election]], Hague stated: "we have not been able to persuade a majority, or anything approaching a majority, that we are yet the alternative government that they need."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/question_time/7375909.stm |title=This week's panel |publisher=BBC |access-date=13 July 2008 |date=30 April 2008 |archive-date=6 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506020012/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/question_time/7375909.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> At that election the Conservative Party gained just one parliamentary seat more than at the 1997 general election; following this defeat, Hague resigned as party leader.  Hague thus became the second twentieth century Conservative party leader not to become Prime Minister (after [[Austen Chamberlain]]) and the first ever to spend his entire tenure in Opposition.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/jun/08/election2001.comment7|title = Austen Chamberlain - history's first Hague|website = [[The Guardian]]|date = 8 June 2001|access-date = 22 May 2021|archive-date = 22 May 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210522084305/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/jun/08/election2001.comment7|url-status = live}}</ref>