Willie Sees the Funny Side

WILLIAM HAGUE came to Kro Bar last week to discuss drinking, sex scandals, Ken Livingston and the odd bit about upcoming elections with students.

With the local council elections on 1st May, Hague started by talking about student voter apathy and compared the democracy of elections in Britain with those in Zimbabwe, Iran and Egypt. “As shadow Foreign Affairs secretary you see so many countries in the world that do not have a free and fair electoral process, and we should really prize the one that we have.”

He called on students in Manchester to vote and exercise their democratic rights, which many people do not have. Hague also emphasised the political power that was wielded by Manchester students, due to their vast numbers. He pointed out that students could cause a landslide victory if they all chose to vote in council elections that traditionally have very low turnouts.

When asked if the Conservatives could win the next election, Hague joked: “It’s theoretically the case that all elections can be won! Had there been a blizzard in all the Labour constituencies, and a bus strike – but not in the Conservative constituencies - then I would have won [the 2001 election]!”

London will be voting for a Mayor as well as councillors next Thursday. Speaking about Boris Johnson’s campaign, Hague was cautious about speculating the outcome but said that he felt Boris was an ideal candidate for the role as he is a nationally recognised figure.

Hague, who was the Conservative Party leader in 1997 but resigned following a disastrous election in 2001, reflected on his relationship with Tony Blair at the time. Harking back to a previous election he said: “The only time I ever managed to get Tony Blair to laugh at himself [was when] I suggested that he split the role of London mayor and get Frank Dobson to be his day-mayor and Ken Livingstone to be his night-mayor!”

Early on in his leadership Hague famously admitted to drinking fourteen pints a day to a reporter at GQ. Nick Clegg, the current Liberal Democrat leader, recently admitted to Piers Morgan, working for the same publication, that he had slept with “no more than 30 women” and that he didn’t think he was bad in bed. Hague said he could have offered some friendly advice to his raunchy political opponent. He joked: “When talking about, in my case the fourteen pint story, and in his case the 30 lovers story, what we have established is that the two can never be done consecutively. I certainly don’t recommend trying that!

“While I have learned and Nick Clegg has certainly learned, I think we are all very much looking forward to the next Prime Minster’s questions so that we can all have a good laugh.”

However, when asked if the recent budget’s increase of 4p on a pint, or Liverpool University’s recent abolition of drinks promotions would have curbed his drinking habits, the Tory leader was not so sure, saying: “I don’t think so, as I wasn’t a student at the time, but I think those sorts of measures are a good thing. In Britain we do have a large binge-drinking problem. However, our problem with the current government’s policy is that it is the moderate drinker who gets hit.”

Also on the student agenda recently has been university investment in the arms trade. Aware of the recent student protests against arms trade investment, particularly by UCL and The University of Manchester, Mr Hague was not ready to agree with the anti-arms trade lobby. He was keen to point out the difference between the forms of trade that exist, stating: “There is a vast illegal arms trade that is one of the biggest problems in the world, and far more needs to be done to stamp it out.”

However, he stressed the potentially negative impacts that any drop in investment could have on the local economy. “If we mean by the arms trade some of the highly skilled workers in the Northwest of England – scientists and engineers – working on air craft that are there for our defence and for our allies, then that is a completely legitimate arms trade.”

Hague also appears to be toeing Cameron’s party line with his turn-blue-to-go-green credentials. He was strongly in favour of green taxes and felt that they could sensibly change people’s behaviour if they were targeted a the individual. However, he rejected the idea of an environmental poll tax, and was keen to point out that it was down to the individual, saying: “I don’t think that you can just say Mr Smith, here is your green tax, pay it!” He went on to say: “It depends on their behaviour, the polluter should pay.”

While being able to command up to £15,000 for after dinner speeches, Hague was vague about his party’s stance on the tuition fees cap. When asked about the u-turn in NUS policy over tuition fees last month, shelving their previous stance in favour of a campaign to keep-the-cap, he said: “I can understand the reason for that.” He continued, “we have also been revaluating our position [on tuition fees] in the Conservative party. As you know our original policy was to scrap tuition fees. However, the situation with tuition fees is that now they have been there so long that it becomes difficult to finance things without them.”

William Hague spoke to students at Kro Bar last Tuesday afternoon.