William Hague

Baron Hague of Richmond
Born	William Jefferson Hague 1961-03-26 Rotherham, United Kingdom
Nationality	United Kingdom
Alma mater	Magdalen College, Oxford, INSEAD
Religion	Anglicanism
Spouse	Ffion Jenkins
Member of	Le Cercle, Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies, WEF/Global Leaders for Tomorrow/1994
Party	Conservative
First Secretary of State  In office 12 May 2010 - 8 May 2015 Preceded by Peter Mandelson Succeeded by George Osborne  Leader of the House of Commons  In office 15 July 2014 - 8 May 2015 Preceded by Andrew Lansley Succeeded by Chris Grayling  Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs In office 12 May 2010 - 14 July 2014 Preceded by David Miliband Succeeded by Philip Hammond  Senior Member of the Shadow Cabinet In office 8 December 2005 - 11 May 2010  Shadow Foreign Secretary  In office 6 December 2005 - 11 May 2010 Preceded by Liam Fox Succeeded by David Miliband  Leader of the Opposition  In office 19 June 1997 - 13 September 2001  Leader of the Conservative Party  In office 19 June 1997 - 13 September 2001 Preceded by John Major Succeeded by Iain Duncan Smith  Secretary of State for Wales  In office 5 July 1995 - 2 May 1997  Minister of State for the Disabled In office 20 July 1994 - 5 July 1995  Member of Parliament for Richmond (Yorks) In office 23 February 1989 - 30 March 2015  Shadow Secretary of State for Wales  In office 2 May 1997 - 11 June 1997  Shadow Constitutional Affairs Spokesperson In office 2 May 1997 - 11 June 1997  Undersecretary of State for Social Security In office 27 May 1993 - 20 July 1994  Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer In office 28 November 1990 - 27 May 1993

William Hague, Baron Hague of Richmond (born 26 March 1961) is a British Conservative politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond in Yorkshire from 1989 to 2015. He also served as Leader of the House of Commons from 2014 to 2015, as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2010 to 2014, and as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1997 to 2001.

On 14 July 2014, Hague stood down as Foreign Secretary to become Leader of the House of Commons in preparation for his planned retirement from parliament, after 26 years as an MP, at the 2015 General Election, in which he did not stand for re-election.

Hague was nominated for a life peerage in August 2015.

Meteoric rise

Hague was educated at Wath-upon-Dearne Grammar School, the University of Oxford and INSEAD at Fontainebleau in France, eventually being elected to the House of Commons in a by-election in 1989. Hague quickly rose through the ranks of the Major Government and was appointed to the Cabinet in 1995 as Secretary of State for Wales. Following a landslide defeat in the 1997 General Election to the Labour Party, he was elected Leader of the Conservative Party at the age of 36.

Resignation

He resigned as Conservative leader after the 2001 General Election following a second landslide defeat, at which the Conservatives only made a net gain of one seat; he thus became the first leader of the party since the role came into being in the early 1920s not to become Prime Minister. He returned to the backbenches, beginning a career as an author, writing biographies of William Pitt the Younger and William Wilberforce. He also held several directorships, and worked as a consultant and public speaker.

After David Cameron was elected Leader of the Conservative Party in 2005, Hague rejoined the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Foreign Secretary. He also took on the role of "Senior Member of the Shadow Cabinet", effectively serving as Cameron's deputy.

Return to power

After the formation of the Coalition Government in 2010, Hague was appointed First Secretary of State and Foreign Secretary. Cameron described him as his "de facto political deputy".

Deep politics

Hague is an attendee of Le Cercle, describing it as "a political group which organises conferences."

 

A Document by William Hague

Title	Document type	Publication date	Subject(s)	Description
File:London Conference on Libya 2011.pdf	statement	29 March 2011	2011 Attacks on Libya	Summary from the Chair of the London Conference on Libya

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/1998	14 May 1998	17 May 1998	Scotland Turnberry	The 46th Bilderberg meeting, held in Scotland, chaired by Peter Carrington
Le Cercle/2002 (Morocco)	27 June 2002	1 July 2002	Morocco	William Hague attended
Munich Security Conference/2011	4 February 2011	6 February 2011	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 47th Munich Security Conference
WEF/Annual Meeting/2019	22 January 2019	25 January 2019	World Economic Forum Switzerland	"The reality is that we are in a Cold War [against China] that threatens to turn into a hot one."
WEF/Annual Meeting/2023	16 January 2023	20 January 2023	World Economic Forum Switzerland	The theme of the meeting was "Cooperation in a Fragmented World"

 

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