William Hague is said to be steeling himself for a concerted and "brutal" onslaught from both right and left factions in the Conservative Party after a general election.

Unless Hague makes significant inroads into Labour's majority senior Tories, such as EU commissioner, Chris Patten, will break their "vows of silence" and vent their "deep-seated reservations" of his leadership, claims the Times and FT.

The Guardian's assessment of Hague's foot and mouth intervention is that he is "setting the political weather".