At least nobody can accuse the Tories of rushing to occupy the centre ground. Now he has revealed his thinking on education. As Francis Beckett reports on page 10, David Blunkett's latest ideas are dubious enough. The Tory leader starts from the presumption that it is possible to set schools free of bureaucracy by abolishing local education authorities.
Somebody has to see to it that the money is properly spent and the duty discharged.
It is known as democratic accountability, and if it is not done locally it must be done nationally. Once the most autonomous in Europe, English schools are now the most rigidly controlled. Schools have been invaded by management-speak, with senior teachers more preoccupied by targets, mission statements and so on than they ever are by children. All this has been done, mostly by Tory ministers, in the name of setting schools free. Mr Hague's vision, however, has a kind of crazy logic.