A defiant Mr William Hague yesterday challenged his party to "move on" from the defensive and give effective opposition to a Labour government "vandalising our constitution, breaking its promises and squandering the golden economic legacy left it by Mr John Major".
And, armed with the 84.6 per cent backing by party members for his commitment to fight the next election pledged to defend the pound, the Conservative leader challenged his pro-euro colleagues also to "move on" or "be left behind". But from around the conference fringe in Bournemouth last night came the equally defiant sound of continuing warfare over Europe - with Mr Kenneth Clarke accusing Lord Lamont of talking "paranoid nonsense" over European federalism, and Mr Michael Heseltine, the former deputy prime minister, warning Mr Hague "he is riding a horse he cannot control". And as Baroness Thatcher arrived in town in a determined attempt to bolster Mr Hague's authority, Mr Heseltine hinted that the Euro-sceptical push within the party could be part of a plot to eventually replace Mr Hague with Mr Michael Portillo.
Rejecting the idea that the party ballot on the euro had settled the issue, Mr Heseltine said: "Tomorrow's story, and this is the warning William must understand, is where the Euro-sceptics are to take the party next."
Asked about the possibility of Mr Portillo positioning himself to assume the leadership, Mr Heseltine said: "I haven't the slightest doubt that is in the minds of very serious people."
Mr Clarke made light of Mr Hague's ballot, describing the outcome as "a very poor result" backed by about half the total membership. And the former cabinet minister, Mr Stephen Dorrell, said Mr Hague's ballot "does not constitute a proper policy for Europe". But with conference due to debate Europe today Lord Lamont, the former chancellor, accused pro-Europeans of "Clintonesque ambiguities" and challenged them to "come out of the closet" over their intentions toward a federal Europe.
In the first of his two scheduled speeches to conference, Mr Hague said no other political leader in Britain would have dared put their policy on the Single Currency to a vote of their party members, and he had been rewarded with "the strongest, clearest and most emphatic support that any party leader has ever received". The policy he would now take to the British people was backed by the shadow cabinet, the majority of MPs, by Mr John Major and Mrs Thatcher and "most important, by the members to which this party now belongs". The "settled will of the Conservative Party is to fight the next election in favour of keeping the pound," declared Mr Hague.
To those who campaigned honourably against that policy, Mr Hague said: "Your future is here in this party fighting alongside us against our real opponents."
But his message was that those who wished to speak for a different policy "will now only be speaking for themselves". And they should be clear: "We are moving on. If you choose not to move on, you will be left behind."
Baroness Thatcher yesterday gave her support to William Hague. In a blue satin coat, she stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Mr Hague saying it would be a "super" conference because the party now had the "right policies".