Mr William Hague has consolidated his position as leader of the British Conservative Party at its conference this week in Blackpool, but probably by confirming its non-electability whenever the country next goes to the polls. There has been a marked shift to the right, exemplified by stirring contributions from Mrs Thatcher, Mr Norman Tebbitt, Mrs Ann Widdecombe and the hitherto unknown party spokesman on Europe, Mr John Maples, who called for an opt-out clause on further integration to be negotiated with Brussels. Mr Hague launched a five-point programme to reduce taxation and health-service waiting lists, deprive those on welfare of their benefits if they refuse work, keep sterling and empower parents to dismiss head teachers. In his conference speech yesterday, he vowed to put the nation and the independence of Britain at the forefront of political debate and to cut down the size of the cabinet and government departments and to abolish all Labour Party assemblies and regional bodies. (A party spokesman later said he was referring not to Scottish and Welsh assemblies but to regional development bodies in England).
Those who take a different line on Europe, such as Mr Kenneth Clarke and Mr Michael Heseltine, were given short shrift, despite the wisdom of their warnings that the party's position is tantamount to withdrawal from the EU and would marginalise it at the polls. Mr Hague yesterday repeated the pledge to negotiate a flexibility clause with Brussels. The much anticipated challenge to Mr Hague by Mr Michael Portillo looks as if it will be a very slow burner indeed, assuming Mr Portillo is re-elected to the House of Commons. Speculation that Mr Blair might call a snap election next year has concentrated Conservative minds on the need to produce a coherent programme. Mr Hague calls it a common-sense approach, and it has a certain plausibility. But the party stubbornly trails well behind Labour in opinion polls and there is a universal expectation that Mr Blair will win the second term he seeks so determinedly. Looking at the age profile of the Conservative delegates - mostly in their sixties and in that reflecting accurately the party's membership as a whole - it is easier to understand the appeal to English nationalism that increasingly animates them. The party organisations in Scotland and Wales are more and more concerned about that.
Mr Blair's attack on the Conservatives and conservatism as an affliction affecting the whole of British society at his party conference, has struck home on the evidence of the angry rebuttals it received this week in Blackpool. But the resurrection of Mrs Thatcher and other ghosts from the Tory past may well prove a hindrance rather than an advantage for Mr Hague as he seeks to refashion his party's image and appeal to a new generation of supporters. The same applies to his call to defend the nation as the primary site of common political culture and, therefore, of democracy. But which nation does he have in mind? Neither the United Kingdom nor Britain qualify any more for the description, following awakened national consciousness in Scotland and Wales, where it is combined with enthusiasm for Europe. In England, there are many who would dispute his version of anti-EU nationalism. This confusion goes to the heart of the Conservatives' political predicament.