Its core would be a much smaller state, with an increased emphasis on personal responsibility and self-reliance. It would involve a big overhaul of the tax and welfare system. The inevitable mediocrity of state-supplied health and education services would also be accepted, with a far greater role for private funding of both. In this election, the Tories have decided to choose a bit of all of the above. This is hardly surprising.
Common sense is by definition the opposite of intellectual rigour.
Mr Hague's is no exception. For a brief period in the 1970s and 1980s, the Tories ceased to be the stupid party. Under Mr Hague, this seems no longer true. A blend of populism, nationalism and me-tooism is what it offers. All it can do is wait for the public to tire of the government.