The Conservatives will probably win the next general election, William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, has said.
Mr Hague, who David Cameron has described as his "deputy in all but name", became the first member of the Tory leadership to predict that it would form the next government.
"It is likely that we are going to be able to win the next election," he told The Times.
He said that once in power, the Conservatives would move to kill the EU Lisbon Treaty, and signalled for the first time that they could promise a referendum on the treaty in their manifesto even if it had already been ratified. “We would not rule anything in or out,” Mr Hague said.
If it had not been ratified, there would be a referendum “in the opening months” of the new Parliament, Mr Hague said. The Conservatives would recommend rejection of the treaty.
It remains unclear whether the treaty will have been approved by the likely time of the next election. It is being held up by the Czech Republic and Poland and a second referendum is to be held in Ireland.
Mr Hague said that there was a mood in the country of "this is long enough of a Labour government" and said his party was ready to take over.
“We have the right mixture of excitement - when you have lost three elections it is quite exciting," he said. "But there is also a sober atmosphere, because if and when we win we will have the worst financial inheritance of any government in peacetime.”
He admitted that Gordon Brown may well have won a fresh term in power if he had decided to go ahead with an election in his "honeymoon period" in autumn 2007. “It was his best chance . . . He could well have won,” Mr Hague said.
He praised Mr Cameron for his coolness while being seen as “political toast” at that point and said that the leader had told his top team that they had to mount the “biggest political turnaround in modern political history” in the week of their 2007 party conference.
In the event, after George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, disclosed plans to raise the inheritance tax threshold and Mr Cameron made an acclaimed speech without notes at the end of the conference, the Tories clawed back at Mr Brown's poll lead and began to build momentum.
Mr Hague gave new details of the talks being held by the shadow cabinet and the civil service over the likely transition of power.
He said that the Permanent Secretary of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had been instructed to prepare for the US-style “national security council” that Mr Cameron has proposed. Led by Mr Cameron as prime minister, it would also include the defence, foreign, home and energy secretaries.
He rejected suggestions that the party was "coasting" to victory, saying "there is a lot of hard work going on here” and insisting that it was moving at “the right pace” in developing its policy plans.
Mr Hague, who admitted to having made “a lot of money” in jobs away from politics, said there should be full disclosure of MPs’ outside earnings.
At a time of public anger about MPs' expenses claims, he said that things were “not so bad” when MPs were not paid at all and Parliament comprised those “enterprising enough to have some other income”.
He also suggested that the Tories would support Barack Obama, the US President, in his “reinforcement of the military position” in Afghanistan, meaning that large numbers of British troops would remain in the country.
-Telegraph.co.uk
Mr Hague, who David Cameron has described as his "deputy in all but name", became the first member of the Tory leadership to predict that it would form the next government.
"It is likely that we are going to be able to win the next election," he told The Times.
He said that once in power, the Conservatives would move to kill the EU Lisbon Treaty, and signalled for the first time that they could promise a referendum on the treaty in their manifesto even if it had already been ratified. “We would not rule anything in or out,” Mr Hague said.
If it had not been ratified, there would be a referendum “in the opening months” of the new Parliament, Mr Hague said. The Conservatives would recommend rejection of the treaty.
It remains unclear whether the treaty will have been approved by the likely time of the next election. It is being held up by the Czech Republic and Poland and a second referendum is to be held in Ireland.
Mr Hague said that there was a mood in the country of "this is long enough of a Labour government" and said his party was ready to take over.
“We have the right mixture of excitement - when you have lost three elections it is quite exciting," he said. "But there is also a sober atmosphere, because if and when we win we will have the worst financial inheritance of any government in peacetime.”
He admitted that Gordon Brown may well have won a fresh term in power if he had decided to go ahead with an election in his "honeymoon period" in autumn 2007. “It was his best chance . . . He could well have won,” Mr Hague said.
He praised Mr Cameron for his coolness while being seen as “political toast” at that point and said that the leader had told his top team that they had to mount the “biggest political turnaround in modern political history” in the week of their 2007 party conference.
In the event, after George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, disclosed plans to raise the inheritance tax threshold and Mr Cameron made an acclaimed speech without notes at the end of the conference, the Tories clawed back at Mr Brown's poll lead and began to build momentum.
Mr Hague gave new details of the talks being held by the shadow cabinet and the civil service over the likely transition of power.
He said that the Permanent Secretary of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had been instructed to prepare for the US-style “national security council” that Mr Cameron has proposed. Led by Mr Cameron as prime minister, it would also include the defence, foreign, home and energy secretaries.
He rejected suggestions that the party was "coasting" to victory, saying "there is a lot of hard work going on here” and insisting that it was moving at “the right pace” in developing its policy plans.
Mr Hague, who admitted to having made “a lot of money” in jobs away from politics, said there should be full disclosure of MPs’ outside earnings.
At a time of public anger about MPs' expenses claims, he said that things were “not so bad” when MPs were not paid at all and Parliament comprised those “enterprising enough to have some other income”.
He also suggested that the Tories would support Barack Obama, the US President, in his “reinforcement of the military position” in Afghanistan, meaning that large numbers of British troops would remain in the country.
-Telegraph.co.uk
