Politics: Hague makes final pitch for Wales

William Hague yesterday paid his last visit to Wales to rally support for the no vote before today's referendum. Meanwhile, plans were being drawn up for using the Conservative conference to stop anti-Hague sniping. Tony Heath and Colin Brown report.

Like a football manager struggling to enthuse a team faced with relegation, William Hague trotted on to the pitch of Wales yesterday to gee-up the anti-devolutionists in the build-up to today's poll.

At the same time, it emerged in London that John Major and Baroness Thatcher could play key roles at the party conference next month to help secure a show of support for their successor.

In Wales, Mr Hague's message to a gathering in Monmouth - a couple of dozen "No" supporters waving placards and a handful of puzzled citizens attracted by the inevitable media scrum - was simple.

An elected assembly would do nothing to improve services like education and health and would cost more than pounds 1m over four years. "It would be nothing more than a talking shop and a terrible waste of money," the leader of the Opposition declared.

With Wales a Tory-free zone since the general election, Mr Hague relied on the support of Michael Ancram, the Tories' constitutional supremo, and two colleagues who lost their seats on 1 May. Sebastian Coe was kept busier signing autographs than his leader, meeting a public whose uninterest occasionally verged on boredom.

After having his photograph taken next to a "No Waiting" traffic sign - something the likes of Peter Mandelson would never have allowed - Mr Hague posed beneath a statue of Charles Rolls, a co-founder of Rolls Royce, who live near the town.

Mr Hague avoided accidents by carefully repeating the mantra that, as Secretary of State for Wales under John Major, he had upped the country's profile, brought in barrowloads of inward investment and had learnt to love his fiefdom.

His own true love, Ffion Jenkins, the daughter of Emyr Jenkins, chief executive of the Arts Council of Wales, was elsewhere. Mr Hague skillfully avoided press interest in his fiancee's devolution leanings.

During his trip, Mr Hague attempted to deflect the attacks on his adviser, Alan Duncan. He said: "Everything I said was my responsibility. I see one or two comments about advisers of mine. I take the responsibility for what I do and I will worry about who my advisers are. We don't live in a one-party state. It's not illegal to criticise the Government. We have been criticising them where they deserve it on a range of matters."

Mr Hague returned to London last night for a meeting of the Shadow Cabinet at which the arrangements for the morale boosting party conference were being discussed.

After suffering the heaviest political defeat this century, Mr Major is expected to meet a wave of sympathy at the conference, and give his backing to Mr Hague. Lady Thatcher, who still carries weight with the rank and file, will appear on the platform later in the week to reinforce her support for the new leader.

This may be seen as an attempt to shore up support for Mr Hague, but last night the rumblings of discontent within the Shadow Cabinet over his leadership appear to have faded.

The Tory leader is anxious also to avoid a rebuff at the party conference over reforms to the party being drawn up by Archie Norman. Some activists in the Tory Charter Movement will oppose them, but they will go through to a full-scale conference in the Spring. He said he would quit the leadership if they were rejected, raising the stakes to ensure they get through.