Hague's hair has attitude

BOBBY CHARLTON eat your heart out. Making a virtue out of tonsorial necessity, William Hague yesterday showed the firm leadership for which he has become famous and banned the comb-over from his makeover.

Not to be outdone by Tony Blair's Caesar and John Prescott's Friar Tuck, the Tory leader sported a brand new Bruce Willis-style haircut guaranteed to strike fear into the hearts of Labour MPs.

In another bid for street credibility, the Tories' Number One showed off his number two crewcut at Prime Minister's Question Time.

The unruly tufts and wisps that had characterised his previous follicular arrangements were a thing of the past, mercilessly mown down. In their place was a bold look that left parts of Mr Hague's head as smooth as a billiard ball and others with the soft downy look of a new born baby.

Mr Hague has joked frequently about his pate, claiming Madame Tussaud's had plenty of hair left over after it made his waxwork dummy.

To rectify his own style bypass, the Opposition leader hired an image consultant from the men's fashion bible GQ magazine - yesterday's barnet was the first evidence of it.

One hairdressing expert called it a "short back and sides, but with attitude. Ideal for that receding hairline", but Labour MPs, were less charitable.

"Desperate times require desperate measures. Maybe he'll Die Hard too," said one. Another said: "Hillary Clinton says that she can cause adverse stories to disappear from the front pages merely by having a new hair- do. We'll see if this works for William Hague."

A Central Office spokesman confirmed that Mr Hague had a haircut yesterday, although not in the official House of Commons salon. He said there was "no conscious policy" to update his hairstyle to win votes.

The only problem is that some backbenchers are worried that their leader's negative poll ratings means he's already Samson to Michael Portillo's Delilah.