At the end of last year this site advocated William Hague replacing George Osborne as Shadow
Chancellor with Mr Osborne moving to the foreign affairs post or to
the Chairman’s slot. That advice wasn’t taken but the status of William Hague remains a big issue. Iain Dale has written an interesting article for this morning’s Telegraph. He advocates a bigger role for William Hague and other right-wingers in keeping the Conservative Party together during these rough times and into the future. He believes that William Hague should become David Cameron’s official deputy. In ConservativeHome’s poll of grassroots members Mr Hague recently reasserted his position as the most highly rated shadow cabinet minister. He could help core vote Tories to understand Project Cameron.
David Cameron has been planning a larger role for his Shadow Foreign Secretary for some time. Putting the hugely able David Lidington alongside him in the foreign affairs team was partly done in order to free the former Tory leader to be able to undertake more campaigning responsibilities – particularly in the north.
Some suspect that William Hague would succeed David Cameron if the modernisation project fails but the Shadow Foreign Secretary has been insistent – publicly and privately – that he doesn’t want his old job back.