Mr William Hague yesterday raised the spectre of an English parliament as he told Conservatives they would for the first time have to become advocates of major constitutional reform, writes Frank Millar. But he has promised a determined Conservative campaign in co-operation with other parties to secure defeat for Mr Tony Blair in any referendum on proportional representation.
Mr Michael Portillo, in Bournemouth yesterday to affirm his loyalty to Mr Hague, continued to cast a shadow. The young leader used his second conference speech of the week to cast the Conservatives as keepers of "the British way" - the battle against state control and intervention in favour of enterprise and freedom, for liberty and security at home and abroad, running like "a golden thread" through the party's history, from Pitt and Wilberforce, through empire and the second World War, to Mr John Major's dedication to peace and democracy in Northern Ireland.
But the Conservative instinct for continuity was on a collision course with Labour's rolling programme of constitutional reform. "It is difficult to overestimate the incoherence and confusion of Labour's constitutional plans. They have now introduced so many voting systems that if you were born in Scotland, live in Wales, work in London and want to vote in the European elections, you need Peter Lilley's brain to work out how to do it," he said, adding: "But this party has to understand that it will not be enough for us simply to campaign against change."
Amid continuing signs of confusion in the Tory hierarchy over the proper response to Scottish devolution, Mr Hague insisted it would not become "an English nationalist party". It was and would remain a party of the United Kingdom. But he went on: "We are not going to be English nationalists but we are going to see that the voters of England are fairly represented."
Mr Hague did not believe "the people of Bournemouth will long accept that Scottish MPs should vote to decide on health or schools in Bournemouth, when their MPs have no say over such matters in Banff and Buchan."
He went on: "For the first time we will have to become the advocates of major constitutional change. It may be a change in the voting rights of Scottish MPs, it may be an English parliament in some form."
Labour, he said, had "undermined the stability of the United Kingdom" and it now fell to Conservatives "to restore its balance".
Mr Hague offered Tories "four steps to victory". The first, already taken, had given the party 250 seat gains in this year's local elections. After next May, he promised they would not vacate "the battleground" in Scotland and Wales "to nationalist parties who want to destroy our country and a Labour party which has played into their hands." The fourth step would see the election of Conservatives "who will stand up for the Europe we believe in" in the European Parliament.
Meanwhile, Mr James Moorhouse, Tory MEP for London South and Surrey East, yesterday defected to the Liberal Democrats in protest at Mr Hague's stance on the European single currency. It also emerged that the Tory leadership was giving another two MEPs suspected of planning a breakaway party, Mr John Stevens and Mr Brendan Donnelly, one last chance to pledge their loyalty to Mr Hague or face expulsion.