Leading Article: Tory conflict over Europe will drag on

IT SEEMS that whatever William Hague does, nothing will go right for him. This was most evident yesterday, when Mr Hague must have thought he would emulate Tony Blair's 1996 triumph in abandoning Clause IV's call for public ownership. His victory in the ballot confirming his policy on the euro - no British entry in this Parliament, or the next - has turned out to be a Pyrrhic one. The ballot has only served to highlight party differences, and to expose alarming gaps in Mr Hague's judgement.

Foremost among these has been the lack of civility shown to opponents, in whose ranks may be found figures who possess the stature and popularity that elude Mr Hague. He has failed to appreciate that his party is nothing like New Labour in 1996, when it had long been exiled from power, and was desperate to win it back. Tories today are still exhausted from their long stint in government. Senior figures, such as Michael Heseltine, are more concerned with their place in history than they are about their relations with the leadership, or their chances of holding power again.

Mr Hague was unwise to sting such grandees into the inevitable angry responses, especially when there was no need for this debate over a decision five years or more away. He has behaved with un-Conservative dogmatism, which a man leading such a small and unpopular parliamentary party is in no position to adopt. The strength of British Conservatives has been their ability to adapt, and to occupy the centre ground of politics: only a divided opposition, and a huge majority, allowed Mrs Thatcher to behave in the way she did. Mr Hague has abandoned that pragmatism.

His efforts will be in vain: Conservative arguments on the euro will continue. Even worse, opinion polls show the public warming to the idea of the single currency. Taking the views of unrepresentative and xenophobic party activists as the voice of Middle England may prove to be the most arrogant, and harmful, of Mr Hague's mistakes.