Mr William Hague has scored a runaway victory in his party's ballot on the Single Currency, amid compelling evidence that it will do little or nothing to quell the Tory Party's civil war over Europe.
Even as Mr Hague hailed the "settled will" of the party membership - with 84.4 per cent supporting his policy to rule out British membership of the Euro for the lifetime of this parliament and the next - Mr Michael Hesel
tine was holding out the prospect of campaigning alongside Mr Tony Blair for a "Yes" vote in the promised British referendum.
Mr Hague had earlier dismissed the "big beasts" of previous Tory governments, Mr Heseltine and Mr Kenneth Clarke, as "irrelevant". And as the result was declared yesterday the leadership again insisted that talk of "deep divisions" should be laid to rest, with the pro-European heavyweights able to speak only for themselves and a minority of party members.
Just 15.6 per cent of members opposed the shadow cabinet line on a turnout of 58.9 per cent.
But, Mr Heseltine maintained, "Self evidently, the discussion and public debate about Europe is a real issue and is going to continue."
Asked if he would campaign with the government for a Yes vote in the planned referendum, Mr Heseltine ruled nothing out: "The initiative is with the government, the Conservative opposition cannot dictate the pace of events."
Pressed as to whether he would campaign alongside Labour, Mr Heseltine insisted: "There is no need to answer that question. The essence, the brilliance, of John Major's position was that we kept our options open."
He continued: "If the government were to decide to join the single currency in circumstances that are not compatible with Britain's self-interest, then there would be many people, Euro philes, who would not campaign for it. But how do you know when it will happen, what the circumstances will be, and how you can therefore close your options in the absence of such information?"
And Mr Heseltine accused Mr Michael Portillo of already "moving the goalposts" to justify an even more negative approach to the Euro.
"He is self evidently now putting himself at the head of a campaign, called the Nation State, in order to move the Conservative Party to a position of `never'."
That charge came as Lord Parkinson, the outgoing party chairman, refused to rule out Mr Portillo as a possible successor to Mr Hague, along with confirmation that Baroness Thatcher will take the unusual step of attending Mr Portillo's conference fringe meeting tomorrow night.
With pre-conference opinion polls showing Mr Hague as having made little or no impact in the last year - and with most of his shadow cabinet seemingly unrecognisable to the public - there is a continuing undercurrent of speculation about Mr Hague's prospects should he fail to deliver some successes in next year's Welsh, Scottish and European elections.
"You can never say never in politics" Lord Parkinson told the Daily Telegraph, while stressing Mr Portillo's loyalty. "I think Michael has been totally committed to supporting William and doesn't see himself as a rival," he maintained.
Mr Hague, who will address conference for a second time on Thursday, also faces potential difficulty this week resisting the growing clamour from some Tory backbenchers for a commitment to an English parliament, as an answer to Mr Blair's devolution programme. Leadership sources suggested this idea would be "stamped on" quite firmly this afternoon, during a debate on the constitution.
Before that, and ahead of Thursday's debate on Northern Ireland, the conference will be addressed this morning by the Ulster Unionist leader and Northern Ireland's First Minister, Mr David Trimble. This morning's speech to delegates will complete a conference hat-trick for Mr Trimble, who flies off this evening to join Dr Mo Mowlam and Mr Seamus Mallon on an 11-city promotional visit to the US.
The low profile of Mr Hague's team is highlighted again today with an opinion poll suggesting almost one in five people believe William Pitt is a member of the Shadow Cabinet. In fact William Pitt the elder left office in 1786 and his son, the younger Pitt, died in 1806. The Gallup poll in today's Daily Telegraph suggests 18 per cent of those asked believe one of the pair is still active in the Tory party.