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William Jefferson Hague (born March 26, 1961) is a British politician, the Member of Parliament for Richmond, North Yorkshire, former leader of the Conservative Party, and current Shadow Foreign Secretary.
Early life, schooling, and initial political careerHague was born in Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England and was educated at Wath-upon-Dearne Comprehensive in Rotherham.
Subsequently, Hague went to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was President of both the Conservative Association (OUCA) and the Oxford Union, a noted route to political office. At Oxford, Hague studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) and graduated with first-class honours. Following university, Hague went on to study for an MBA at INSEAD and worked for a time as a management consultant at McKinsey. He was first an unsuccessful parliamentary candidate for Wentworth in 1987, but was then elected to Parliament in a by-election as member for Richmond, North Yorkshire in 1989. After holding other ministerial positions he entered the Cabinet in 1995 as Secretary of State for Wales. Hague made a good impression at the Welsh Office; his predecessor John Redwood had been heavily criticised in the role. Resolving not to repeat Redwood's attempt to mime the Welsh national anthem at a public event, Hague asked a Welsh Office civil servant, Ffion Jenkins, to teach him the words; they would later marry. Leadership of Conservative Party
Image:Hague ride.jpg William Hague in his infamous baseball cap on a log flume Hague's leadership came under constant attack and his tenure was widely considered a failure. Some commentators viewed him as ill-prepared, or 'unelectable', as Opposition Leader. Hague himself feels his image never did recover after the first few months, when various public-relations exercises backfired disastrously. On one of these occasions he visited a theme park and he, his Chief of Staff Sebastian Coe and the local MP took a ride on a log flume wearing baseball caps emblazoned with the word 'HAGUE'. Cecil Parkinson described the exercise as "juvenile".[citation needed] During the 1998 Conservative Party Conference in Bournemouth, the tabloid Sun's front page infamously read (in a parody of Monty Python's "Dead Parrot" sketch), "This party is no more ... it has ceased to be ... this is an ex-party. Cause of death: suicide."[citation needed] Skill in debateAlthough polls remained unfavourable, Hague gained great respect from all sides of the British House of Commons during his time as Leader of the Opposition for his performances as a debater[citation needed]. It has been said that Hague's critics, however vocal their opposition, were silenced every Wednesday by his performance at Prime Minister's Questions[citation needed]. In one particular exchange Hague ripped into the Prime Minister's record, in response to the Queen's Speech of 2000:[citation needed] Blair responded by criticising what he saw as Hague's "bandwagon" politics: ..he started the fuel protest bandwagon, then the floods bandwagon; on defence it became armour-plated, then on 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.[citation needed] Hague's authority was put in doubt with the promotion of Michael Portillo to the role of Shadow Chancellor in 2000[citation needed]. Within days Portillo reversed Conservative opposition to two of Labour's flagship policies, the minimum wage and independence of the Bank of England. From then and until the 2001 General Election Hague's supporters, led by Amanda Platell, fought an increasingly bitter battle with those of Portillo. Platell has said that she advised Hague to abandon the "fresh start" theme and to follow his instincts[citation needed]. While this improved his image, some mistakes were made, including the claim that he used to drink '14 pints of beer a day' when he was a teenager. His controversial "foreign-land" speech also raised some hackles in certain circles. On the morning of Labour's second landslide victory in the 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."[citation needed] In the 2001 election the Conservative Party had gained only one seat from their disastrous 1997 landslide defeat. Following the defeat, Hague resigned as leader, thus becoming the first full Conservative Party leader not to have become Prime Minister. BackbenchesOn the backbenches he occasionally spoke in the Commons on the issues of the day. While Hague spoke in support of the military action proposed by Prime Minister Tony Blair during debate before the 2003 Iraq War, one could lipread Blair saying to his colleague, then-Foreign Secretary Jack Straw "He's good, you know."[citation needed] Between 1997 and 2002 William Hague was the chairman of the International Democrat Union. Since 2002 he has served as a deputy chairman to John Howard, the Prime Minister of Australia. Rehabilitation of reputationHague's profile and popularity have risen among both Conservative Party members and the wider public significantly since his spell as party leader. And since ceasing to be Leader of the Opposition, Hague has been an active media personality. He put in three much-praised appearances as a guest host on the BBC satirical news show Have I Got News For You in which he was also persuaded by Ian Hislop to admit that endorsing the soon-to-be-jailed Jeffrey Archer as the Conservative candidate for the post of Mayor of London was his "biggest mistake". Other subsequent activities have included writing an in-depth biography of 18th century Prime Minister Pitt the Younger (published in 2004), teaching himself how to play the piano, and hosting the 25th anniversary programme for Radio 4 on the political television satire Yes Minister in 2005. Hague's annual income is the highest in Parliament, with earnings of around £400,000 a year from directorships, consultancy, speeches, and his parliamentary salary. His income was previously estimated at £1 million annually, but he dropped several commitments and in effect took a salary cut of some £600,000 on becoming Shadow Foreign Secretary in 2005.[1] The full list of his registered interests can be found here. Along with former Prime Minister John Major, former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke, and Hague's successor Iain Duncan Smith, Hague served for a time on the Conservative Leadership Council, which was itself set up by Michael Howard upon his unopposed election as Conservative Party Leader in 2003. In the 2005 Conservative leadership election Hague backed eventual winner David Cameron. Return to the Shadow CabinetOn 6 December 2005, David Cameron was elected leader of the Conservative party. Hague was offered and accepted the role of Shadow Foreign Secretary and Senior Member of the Shadow Cabinet, effectively serving as Cameron's deputy (though not formally, unlike previous deputy Conservative leaders Willie Whitelaw, Peter Lilley and Michael Ancram). He had been widely tipped to return to the front bench under either Cameron or leadership contest runner-up David Davis. On 30 January 2006, per David Cameron's instructions, Hague travelled to Brussels for talks to pull Conservative Party MEPs out of the federalist European Peoples Party (EPP) in the European Parliament. (Daily Telegraph, 30 Jan 2006). Further, on 15 February 2006, Hague served as a 'stand in' for David Cameron (on paternity leave) at Prime Minister's Questions. This appearance gave rise to jokes at the expense of Blair, that all three parties that day were being led by 'stand ins', with the Liberal Democrats represented by acting leader Sir Menzies Campbell, the Labour Party by the departing Blair, and the Conservatives by Hague. Hague again deputised for Cameron for several sessions in 2006. His standing in for Cameron at PMQs has increased the resemblance of his role to that of a deputy leader, but he retains only the title Senior Member of the Shadow Cabinet. See also
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