The Tories' Youngest Fogy

...Yet as one of his image consultants complained, "It is difficult when you have a chap who is so young but looks so old...

...That will probably be too soon, however, to indicate whether Hague has succeeded in halting the Tory decline...

...Norman was brought in not long ago to head the large Asda supermarket chain in Britain, which was almost $2 billion in debt and had fallen far behind its competitors...

...The problem, though, is not simply one of parliamentary seats...

...What makes Hague's selection all the more curious is that he is not someone capable of matching Tony Blair's skill in debate or on television—like the robust former Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke, who has quietly retired to the Tory back benches...

...Tory-leaning pundits here concede that Labor is almost certain to occupy Number 10 Downing Street for at least a decade, and possibly much longer...

...But instead of picking a figure likely to restore party unity, the rump of Tory Parliamentarians picked as their leader a devout Thatcherite...

...Beyond his given names, that objective is the only thing Hague has in common with the President of the United States...

...It confronts Hague with a difficult situation, because the Tories remain bitterly split between Europhiles and Euroskeptics, and he is one of the strong naysayers...

...He must mount a credible opposition to a secure, even arrogant Labor government, and at the same time try to persuade the British that the Conservative Party is not sleazeridden, antediluvian and uncaring about the public good...

...From a lead of 3 21 seats in Parliament to Labor's 272 before the spring elections, they are down to a meager 163 seats while Labor holds 416...

...Perhaps this is understandable, since a number of recently unseated Tory MPs—having been deprived of the generous parliamentary paychecks they had almost taken for granted—are currently scrounging for gainful employment out in the cruel world...

...Still, if the Tories believed their new 3 6-year-old leader would provide them with a vibrant, forceful image, they were wrong...

...In many parts of the country, their local organizations, vital to the renewal strategies of the Conservative Central Office, are in ruins...

...And members of "The Firm," as McKinsey is sometimes sneeringly called, are known for their ability to closely analyze problems and produce radical solutions...

...One reason why the Tories were spurned at the polls was the well-publicized bitter division between theirright and left wings...

...That is not to suggest that Hague, who was the youngest Cabinet member in the ousted Tory government, is shallow or unimaginative...

...It is not yet clear what approach is to be employed to lure back disaffected former Tory voters...

...He has already demonstrated that much in wrangles with Blair across the dispatch boxes in the Commons...

...On the contrary, he is extremely bright and, if hardly silvertongued, quite articulate...

...Not surprisingly, they had come to harbor the conviction that their rule in the realm reigned over by Her Majesty the Queen is the natural and proper order of things...

...The performance so far of Labor Party Prime Minister Tony Blair has done nothing to raise their spirits, let alone offer them hope of a rapid recovery...

...The way things stand, the Conservatives can expect to be out in the cold for a long time...

...Until the severe trouncing they suffered at the hands of the Labor Party in last May's parliamentary elections, they were in control of the government for 18 uninterrupted years...

...At the moment, things do not look too promising for Hague...

...But a carefully plotted plan of attack canbe expected from Hague and Norman...

...The initial electoral challenge facing the new Tory leader is next year's Greater London Council contests...

...And over the course of this waning century they have enjoyed power a full 70 years...

...For unlike Congressional Democrats, who still possess sufficient strength to stage a comeback on Capitol Hill in the not too distant future, Britain's Tories were hopelessly decimated at the polls...

...It would take a political reversal of improbable proportions for them to regain control of the government in the foreseeable future...

...Former Tory Prime Minister Edward Heath, never an inspiring personality himself, called the choice of Hague "a tragedy for the party...

...But no matter what he does to try to restore the ascendancy they consider rightfully theirs, the Tories may just have to wait until the high-riding Laborites self-destruct as they did...

...Nonetheless, they must come to terms with being on the outside looking in...

...Inevitably, some see Hague as only a stopgap, picked in a hurry after his party's election debacle...

...Whether Hague is there for the short run or the longhaul,atpresenthe is shouldering a formidable burden...

...His early performance has been unimpressive, exposing him to a barrage of criticism from within Tory ranks...

...Both are former operatives of McKinsey and Company, the highly respected international business consulting organization...

...Even the Archbishop of Canterbury, primate of the Church of England, once irreverently dubbed "the Tory Party at prayer," is a firm supporter of Labor's policies...

...Recently, while he was attending a spirited West Indian carnival in London's Notting Hill, the television cameras caught him wearing jeans and a sports shirt, with his arm around the waist of the fetching Miss Ffion Jenkins, his intended...

...One of the first things he did on taking the Tory reins was name MP ArchibaldNorman to be a vice-chairman of the party and assign him the task of revamping its organization...

...Norman Gelb reports regularly for The New Leader on British affairs...

...He is a careful speaker, but he is neither much livelier nor more inspirational than John Major, his grayish predecessor as Tory chieftain...

...On informal occasions he has begun dispensing with his business suits, white shirts and discreet neckties, and in general he is "dressing down...

...To dispel this perception, image makers have been hired to take Hague in hand...

...The party is also in dire financial straits...

...It is not easy for them to adjust to the role of feeble Opposition...

...He has accepted that the shine of his balding pate needs toning down for TV appearances...

...With the aid of "relationship marketing" experts, Hague has tried to speak in less of a monotone in public so that his unquestionable cleverness and wit can break through, but he has a long way to go...

...Even preparations for his forthcoming marriage to a sparkling Welsh lass of 29 have not saved him from being widely seen as a young fogy...

...As expected, he has failed to rally many at the leftward end of the Tory spectrum to his banners...

...Several prominent Tory survivors of last May's massive wipeout, moreover, have decided to spend more time securing their personal fortunes in the private sector, rather than lending their new leader much-needed support...

...In some respects, William Hague was a strange choice to lead the party...

...His dry manner, overly subtle wit and lack of emotional spontaneity make him appear less youthful than the dynamic 44-year-old Prime Minister he is up against...

...The real test will be the 1999 vote for members of the European Parliament...

...By appropriating traditional Tory policies on free enterprise, law and order and pursuit of the national interest, and adding to them his personal emphasis on improving educational standards as well as the national health care system, Blair has caught the public mood with studied precision...

...The choice is revealing...

...The Tories have lost the backing of much of their traditional middle-class and business constituencies...

...With remarkable rapidity, he turned Asda around by introducing a range of consumer-friendly policies, including eye-catching pricing practices, longer store hours, and bargain-item gimmicks that drew in the crowds...

...In an effort to defy the odds, the new Conservative leader, William Jefferson Hague, has embarked on a campaign to refashion his party's image...

...Many who knew him only from his previous public appearances did a double take...

...It has been suggested that Tory grandees, still shellshocked from the magnitude of their defeat, feel it would be best to let him get on with the job until the immediate trauma is over, and someone capable of projecting greater excitement emerges...