Politics: Single-minded Hague goes for the caring look

WILLIAM HAGUE today will attempt to retake the centre ground of British politics from Tony Blair by staking the Tories' claim to the title of the "one-nation" party.

Relaunching the party in Harrogate, he will go further than before in distancing it from the image of Tory "greed and privilege" which contributed to their defeat in May. Party sources denied he would be disowning the inheritance of Baroness Thatcher and John Major but it was clear Mr Hague was planning to jettison the Tory image of the party of "little Englanders".

Rebranding will include a new logo for European elections next year to replace the flickering Tory torch but sources said they were sticking with blue as the party colour. Mr Hague, who is colour blind, is confident of a big endorsement for the biggest changes to the party structure in a century.

There will be a big majority for his plans, which include scrapping the idiosyncratic system of autonomous constituency party associations and replacing them with a national membership list and a party controlled more from the centre. Mr Hague, recently accused of stealing Mr Blair's clothes, is declaring turf wars on the prime minister to take back the "one-nation" brand-name for the Tories, which they traced back to Disraeli. But the speech heralds more than a war of words. Mr Hague is anxious to re-establish the Tories and avoid being cast as the party of the right wing Eurosceptic fringe.

He will say: "We will be able to rally the British people to the standard of liberty and freedom without being mistaken for the representatives of greed and privilege. We will be able to defend our nation without being mistaken as narrow-minded isolationists."

The Tory leader will challenge the Prime Minister's claim to the one- nation title by accusing him of "constitutional vandalism" with his plans for Scottish and Welsh devolution. He will also draw a line under the Tory past, in which previous prime ministers appeared to abandon Conservatives in local government.

He will also try to redraw the Tory image to embrace a wider picture of family values, which Michael Portillo claimed after the election defeat had made the Tories seem too narrow to voters. Mr Hague will say the Tories remain the champion of marriage and of the family.

He will also challenge Mr Blair's slogan that Labour is for the many, not the few, by insisting that "we can show how wealth can strengthen compassion and how strong individuals build strong communities."

His message about a softer, caring image will be reinforced by Stephen Dorrell, former health secretary, who will tell the Tory reform group fringe meeting that the party had become "as unelectable as a result of our perceived attitude to social policy issues as Labour were in 1983 as a result of their economic agenda." Mr Dorrell will tell supporters the Tories appeared to prefer talking about tough choices without explaining the benefits which policies were designed to bring.

The Tories seemed at best indifferent and at worst of possessing a secret agenda for health and education.