Boost for Hague campaign

Lord Parkinson Backs Hague

Lord Parkinson - formerly Cecil Parkinson - said the party needed a leader from "a new generation for the new century ... a fresh start," praising Mr Hague's "conviction and appeal".

Lord Parkinson's endorsement will be a significant boost for Mr Hague's campaign, although, as a peer, he has no vote in the contest.

Formal nominations for the contenders open on Thursday, and first-round voting by Tory MPs will take place next week.

"It is time for the Conservative Party to choose a leader from a new generation for the new century," said Lord Parkinson. "I believe that leader should be William Hague."

"William Hague is the man with the conviction and appeal to lead our party through opposition and into government at the next election," he said.

First and foremost, said Lord Parkinson, the former Welsh Secretary was "a man of conviction ... committed to the Conservative principles of freedom and personal responsibility that have transformed this country."

"He has the vision to turn these principles into policies for the new century. But he also has the political skills and the appeal to connect with the electorate," he added.

Parkinson: Once a leading Thatcherite

In government, Lord Parkinson was a favourite of then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. His career was overshadowed by revelations about an affair with his one-time secretary Sara Keays.

In an interview at the weekend, Mr Hague said voters objected more to financial misconduct by MPs than by sexual scandals. He promised not to "preach" about moral values. Family values were important in a civilised society, he said.

"But I am not going to say that everyone has to live in a family unit of a given description or that we expect everybody in the country to be absolutely perfect in every aspect of their behaviour," he continued.

Another leadership contender, John Redwood, has appealed to Tories to support his bid for the party leadership to encourage "new Conservatives" to back the changes needed to win the next election.

Joined on the platform for the first time in the leadership campaign by his wife, Gail, Mr Redwood told a Westminster news conference he had warned that no change meant no chance.

"We now know the results," he said. "That advice went unheeded. I say to my party now, change now, be brave, realise we have a lot to do to get ourselves back into winning ways and then we will have an excellent chance."

"Now is not the time to fudge decisions or to seek the easy options, now is the time to be bold, to admit we got a lot wrong, to admit we need changes and to get ourselves back in touch with the natural Conservative electorate which is out there waiting for us," he said.

Mr Redwood, whose first challenge for the party leadership after a split with then Prime Minister John Major over Europe failed, welcomed reports that Mr Major had called for Britain's entry into a single currency to be delayed.

But he added: "I say we must oppose the single currency. It is bad for jobs, bad for prosperity and it is bad for democracy."

The efforts by Mr Redwood and Mr Hague to dominate the leadership contest stage followed yesterday's launch by fellow leadership contender Kenneth Clarke of a campaign video, to be sent to more than 1,000 Tory MPs, MEPs, parliamentary and Euro-constituency chairmen and peers.

In the video, he vowed to win back middle England for his party by tempering a commitment to free enterprise economics with a social conscience.

Meanwhile supporters of Michael Howard insisted he was the only right wing candidate who could beat Mr Clarke in the leadership contest, while Stephen Dorrell called for the Conservative party to modernise its constitution as rapidly as possible to facilitate the rebuilding of its grassroots machine and clear the way for a concerted attack the Government's policies.

Major Rules out Backing Leadership Hopeful