Hague: I'm Maggie II

WILLIAM Hague took on the mantle of Lady Thatcher's leadership style yesterday, after securing overwhelming backing for his reforms of the Tory Party, writes Paul Routledge.

Party members voted by 110,165 votes to 4,425 in favour of endorsing changes that will give the Tories one member, one vote in selecting their leader and would-be MPs, plus a new disciplinary and ethics machinery to stamp out sleaze.

The result was described as "a fairly conclusive outcome" by Lord Parkinson, the party chairman, at the Conservative Central Council in Harrogate, where Tory activists applauded Mr Hague's portrayal of himself as the successor to Lady Thatcher.

"She won through because she made people see that she was determined; she won through because people won't push when there are no rewards to pushing. She did what she was elected to, what she was paid to do. She led. So will I."

However, the Tory leader left open the possibility of changing the party's hardline stance on Europe.