"Most of all they want to be free": Hague addresses the 1977 Tory Conference

The speech that made him famous

Robert Godber, Hague's politics teacher, on his pupil's enthusiasm for the subject

William Hague - A Pitt the Younger for the 1990s?

In 1977, at the dawning of an era of punk music and spiky hair, the 16-year old Mr Hague, neatly dressed in jacket and tie, addressed the Conservative Party conference.

His speech won him national attention and the admiration of Margaret Thatcher. He told the conference that young people like himself wanted to see taxes cut, union power curbed and the frontiers of the state rolled back - all principles which were to mark Mrs Thatcher's years in government.

Educated at a comprehensive school in his native South Yorkshire, he went on to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he took a First in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He also served as President of the Oxford Union.

Celebrating his entrance to parliament at the age of 27

After graduating, he attended a business school in Paris, going on to work for management consultants McKinsey. But politics remained at the centre of life.

In 1989, at the age of 27, he won the seat of Richmond in North Yorkshire for the Tories - a victory which remains as the Tories last by-election success.

Within a year, he had become Parliamentary Private Secretary to the then Chancellor, Norman Lamont. Spells as a Junior Social Security Minister and then as Minister of State in the same department followed. Colleagues speak highly of Mr Hague's term as Welsh Secretary, arguing that he brought jobs and investment to Wales.

With his fiancee Ffion Jenkins

Addressing a gathering at Conservative Central Office after his victory, Mr Hague declared: "You have put your faith in me and I thank you for that and I want you to know that I'm not going to let you down."

The task in front of him is regarded as a formidable one, not least by his fellow Conservatives. As well as having to unite the party and shed the "Hague the Vague" label, he must prove that he is not simply a caretaker leader.