Tories must reach out to the centre, says Hague

William Hague promised a Tory crusade on social issues yesterday as he launched a drive to capture the political centre ground following criticism from party moderates about his right-wing populism.

William Hague promised a Tory crusade on social issues yesterday as he launched a drive to capture the political centre ground following criticism from party moderates about his right-wing populism.

In a significant U-turn, the Tory leader said he would now switch the focus from policies such as tax cuts, Europe and crime to a "bold new social agenda" which would show the Conservatives were "ready to govern for all the people".

Mr Hague said: "They are issues that, I readily admit, in the past might not have been those most closely associated in people's minds with the Conservative Party, or might not have been seen to be at the very top of our agenda."

The Tories unveiled a blueprint to revive the inner cities on the first day of their Bournemouth conference to highlight the change of strategy. But Mr Hague's aides insisted the move had been long planned and was not a response to demands for a change of direction, led by Michael Heseltine, the former deputy prime minister.

The Tories promised, in effect, to privatise the £2bn programme to help Britain's most deprived areas by setting up new regeneration companies which would aim to attract private-sector investment.

Mr Hague told a press conference: "While it is certainly true that many city centres have enjoyed a renaissance in recent years, the residential areas that surround them have too often remained places of great deprivation and poverty."

The Tory proposals include allowing the companies to open new schools or take over failing state schools; a "cops in shops" initiative to deter crime; encouraging GPs who have retired early to return to work part-time by offering them enhanced pensions; demolition of the worst tower blocks built in the Sixties; and a crackdown on "neighbours from hell".

Despite his U-turn, Mr Hague came under further pressure from Tory moderates yesterday to adopt a "One Nation" approach in order to broaden the party's appeal beyond traditional Conservatives.

Ian Taylor, a former minister and prominent pro-Europe Tory, warned that Mr Hague "won't get into No 10 if we carry on as we have been doing". He said: "We have got to reach out to the people who deserted us last time or have never thought of voting Conservative before. To do that we have got to embrace One Nation politics."

He said people's concerns were not about Europe, asylum-seekers or even fuel tax. "They want leadership, not reaction to tabloid headlines," he said.

Steven Norris, a party vice-chairman, made it clear yesterday that the Conservatives could not hope to win a majority unless they addressed the needs of homosexuals, ethnic minorities and women.

"None of us would wish to belong to a party which was not there to appeal equally to everyone in our society, whether they are male or female, rich or poor, black or white, gay or straight," Mr Norris told a fringe meeting in Bournemouth.

"The greatest Conservative core value is a belief in equality. We ought to be making sure that these core values bring that community into the Conservative Party. When one-third of Londoners is of an ethnic background, this is important to us. In fact, I believe it is absolutely crucial to us," he said.

The former health secretary Stephen Dorrell warned the Tories would not win the 14 million votes needed to win an election if they talked only to one section of centre-right voters. "The Conservative Party, at its best, is a broad-based centre right coalition of a variety of different points of view," he said.