HAGUE ANNOUNCES RETHINK AS TORIES RETREAT ON DRUGS

BRITAIN: The Conservative leader, Mr William Hague, was yesterday forced
into an embarrassing rethink of the party's "zero tolerance" policy on
cannabis after he acknowledged serious misgivings over the proposals among
colleagues and said they would now be opened up for public consultation.

After a bruising 24 hours of criticism levelled at the party, Mr Hague
emerged from a meeting of the shadow cabinet at Conservative headquarters in
London to clarify the position on drugs.

Effectively performing a U-turn on its policy on cannabis, Mr Hague insisted
the party was not abandoning its tough line on drugs "but we think there
should be further discussion".

As Mr Hague backed away from pledge by the shadow home secretary, Ms Ann
Widdecombe, to introduce pounds 100 fines for possession of cannabis, the
former chief constable of Gwent police, Mr Francis Wilkinson, criticised the
policy and said cannabis should be legalised.

But he also thanked Ms Widdecombe for making her original statement at the
Tory party conference in Bournemouth last week, because "it has made people
debate seriously the issue of legalisation and be honest about their own use
of the drug".

The government, seizing on Mr Hague's difficulties, said Tory policy had
gone from "zero tolerance to zero credibility". The Home Office Minister, Mr
Paul Boateng, ridiculed the Tories' "kneejerk, reactionary and populist
policies" and accused Mr Hague of "opportunism and weakness" by
back-tracking on a policy he had previously cleared.

Mr Hague's rethink came after the shadow culture secretary, Mr Peter
Ainsworth, and six other Tory colleagues admitted in the Mail on Sunday that
they had tried cannabis in their youth.

The debate within Conservatism over drugs has been described as a battle
between the liberal wing of the party, which includes the shadow chancellor,
Mr Michael Portillo, and the authoritarian wing, led by Ms Widdecombe.
Reports had suggested that the liberal wing orchestrated the admission of
cannabis use by Mr Ainsworth and other colleagues in order to undermine Ms
Widdecombe. But Mr Hague rejected suggestions there was a deliberate
campaign to undermine her and said he had advised his MPs to be honest with
the newspaper.

Mr Hague said the party recognised concerns about its drug policy but the
rethink was not a signal that it was softening its line on drugs or that
cannabis should be decriminalised.

"We realise there are concerns about some of the proposals we have made and
so we are going to go to the police, to the medical profession, to drug
rehabilitation workers, to teachers and to parents around the country and
have this honest debate about drugs," he said.