Having presided over the humiliation of a second consecutive electoral defeat for his party, Mr Hague will now find himself the subject of one of the most searching inquests in Conservative history.
Tories from all wings of the party, who have displayed rare discipline during the election campaign, will turn on Mr Hague for ensuring that prized ministerial red boxes remain beyond their reach for the best part of the decade.
Wet Tories on the One-Nation wing of the party, led by the former party chairman Mr Chris Patten, will condemn Mr Hague for vacating the centre ground where general elections are won as he embarked on his "core vote" strategy of appealing to party diehards.
Only a political leader on a suicide mission, they will argue, would abandon the key areas of schools and hospitals which regularly topped the list of voters' priorities in successive election polls.
Mr Patten's greatest criticism, which he will voice on Radio 4 tonight, will be aimed at Mr Hague's decision to harden up his opposition to the single currency and to make the issue the centrepiece of his campaign.
Mr Patten's call for Britain to move into the euro-entry lobby will be resisted by the vast majority of the new parliamentary party, which will be overwhelmingly sceptical.
But diehard eurosceptics on the right of the party may for once find themselves in agreement with their former chairman in one area. They are furious with Mr Hague for claiming that the general election was a referendum on the future of the pound.
They have condemned this as a selfish move designed to bolster Mr Hague's own position at the expense of the No camp in a euro referendum.
One senior Tory said: "People on the left and right of the party accept that Europe has not been the trump card Hague had expected. The argument that being more eurosceptic helps you win does not work."
Looming over the Tories, as they attempt to rekindle the spirit which made them the most successful party in the democratic world in the last century, will be the figure of the selfstyled Mummy.
A decade after her fall, Margaret Thatcher's electrifying performances during the campaign showed that the former prime minister will play a decisive role in shaping the party's future. A leadership candidate from the right who wins her backing may prove unstoppable.
But as one Tory said: "We have to come to terms with the fact that Margaret Thatcher made us look very outdated." "Her appearances reminded the public why she is no longer prime minister."
Until the Mummy finally retires, the Tories will struggle to find a route out of the wilderness.