Editing William Hague (section)

====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>