PERHAPS the Tories are still suffering from post-traumatic shock following the May Day massacre. Surely they have not forgotten the years of open warfare under John Major's leadership? Yet it appears William Hague - dubbed John Major Mark II - could be elected party leader next week.
There is no doubt Hague, the former Welsh secretary, is a nice man. He is bright, a good constituency MP, and is not aligned to any particular wing of the party. Unfortunately for Hague, this political profile eerily resembles the man who led his disunited party to one of their worst election defeats.
"William is just a cleverer version of John Major," says one Tory MP. "He has no ideology, no sense of direction of where he wants to lead the party. He is `Hague the Vague'. How could he possibly unite us? We've been here before and look what happened. We do not seem to have learned from that mistake."
Clearly determined to rid himself of this image problem, Hague surprised his critics last month by actually attacking Major's years of "fudge", and insisted he would be a strong leader with forthright opinions.
Unfortunately for him, he was badly advised. Not only did his denunciation fail to impress his parliamentary colleagues, who wondered why he had remained so silent during those years of "fudge", but also alienated the Tory faithful.
Despite his enemies and image problem, Hague and his campaign team have almost performed a miracle over the last few weeks. From being an inexperienced but able junior cabinet minister, he has metamorphosed into the only man who can supposedly take on Tony Blair and lead the Tories to victory at the next election. And he is still only 36.
Although Hague insists he has never mapped out his political career, unlike many of his colleagues, it has been an apparently effortless and easy ride. Few political pundits can forget his speech to the Tory party conference in 1977 when, in true Thatcherite style and at the tender age of 16, he berated the party's wets.
"It's all right for you, half of you may not be here in 30 or 40 years' time. But I will be and I want to be free," he shouted in his downbeat Yorkshire accent, wagging his finger passionately at the Tory faithful.
He may have looked like a nerd, but the conference went wild and the young lad received a standing ovation, prompting Mrs Thatcher to declare: "We are standing here with possibly another young Mr Pitt." The media dubbed him the Tory Golden Boy.
Even his family was taken aback by his rabid Thatcherite views, with his parents insisting he was not spoon-fed these Tory ideals at birth. Born in 1961 in Rotherham, he grew up around the Yorkshire coalfields. His father Tim ran the family business, a soft-drinks factory.
To the amusement of his family and friends, at the age of 13 the young Hague had posters of Lady Thatcher pinned to his bedroom walls, while his three older sisters drooled over their favourite pop stars.
By the age of 15, he had joined the Young Conservatives and his hobbies included reading parliamentary reports, quoting Churchill's speeches and memorising the names of every MP and their constituency in Britain. Hardly surprising then that his sisters still call him "dear Tory pig".
Hague is extremely proud of his roots, never failing to mention that he was educated at his local comprehensive, and has consistently argued that private education is "a waste of money".
After school he went to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he secured a first in politics, philosophy and economics. As president of the Oxford Union, he raised a few eyebrows by choosing the X-rated Carnal Knowledge to launch one year's film programme.
By the age of 21 still going on 57, he was a speech-writer and policy adviser to the then chancellor, Geoffrey Howe, at 11 Downing Street. Six years later, in 1989, Hague won the Yorkshire seat of Richmond, the Tories' last by-election victory.
With luck still on his side, he was quickly promoted, serving as a private parliamentary secretary for a number of ministers. In 1995 the then social secretary, Peter Lilley, suggested to Major that he should offer Hague a post in the cabinet.
Lilley pointed out that there had been a precedent for such promotion, Major himself. "William is better than I was," replied the then prime minister. And within weeks Hague became the Welsh secretary and the youngest member of a cabinet for almost 50 years.
For much of his political career Hague has had to contend with rumours that he is gay. "It's complete nonsense that you have to marry for career reasons, he insisted repeatedly when asked about sharing his flat with fellow Tory MP Alan Duncan, who is now a member of his campaign team.
Even his recent engagement to Ffion Jenkins, his parliamentary secretary, following a four-month" courtship, described as the best-kept secret in Whitehall, has failed to quash the speculation.
Amid accusations that he "hasn't got a single opinion in his brain", Hague has come out as a supporter of capital punishment and gay marriages but against abortion. But where he stands on the all-important single currency is still anybody's guess, though yesterday he said that while it could happen in 30 or 40 years' time, he wanted to keep the pound.
Last week his idol, Lady Thatcher, summoned him for a 40-minute interrogation, hoping to offer her seal of approval, but dismissed him as a lightweight.
"William said some very silly things," explained one Tory MP.