WILLIAM Hague MP was described as inspirational by some students when he visited the Wensleydale School in Leyburn - mainly because of his honesty.

This included admitting to under-age drinking when he was at school and revealing that he was probably one of the highest earning Members of Parliament.

The students were impressed not only by the fact that he had come from an ordinary background and wore a gold watch, but also that he didn't try to score political points when asked: "Iraq has been a downfall for Labour; do you think it will raise the chances for the Conservatives?"

He responded: "Tony Blair has had great problems over the Iraq war but I would have done the same thing. We were all very surprised about how the intelligence was so wrong in some important aspects."

They also liked his straight answers about the EU: "I don't agree with the new constitution for Europe," he said. "Europe should be about peace and trade and not about signing away the rights of this country and its right to run its own affairs.

"The original ideals were right. Now we are being let down by those committed to creating a single state."

There was surprise when he said the MP he most admired was Robin Cook. This was because Mr Cook had resigned when he disagreed with Mr Blair over Iraq, and had gone on expressing his views without pursuing a vendetta.

"I don't dislike Gordon Brown but I don't think he is always straight with people," Mr Hague commented. He explained that in a Budget speech, Mr Brown had said there would be no increase in taxes but in the small print it stated that council taxes would go up.

Of Mr Blair he said: "He is a very effective political leader but I don't think he actually believes in anything. He likes to be in power."

He added that he did not agree with a politician following policies just to stay in power.

Mr Hague said he did have a lot of admiration for Tory leader Michael Howard as he had taken on a tough job at a time when he had semi-retired from front-line politics, and yet was doing all he could to do it well.

Mr Hague explained that front-line politics left little time for family life. He described how he spent his weekends in his constituency seeking to serve all who asked for his help, no matter how they had voted in an election; and then lived in London from Monday to Thursday so as to attend Parliament.

When asked what he would change about the way the education system was run, he commented: "Politicians always think they have got to go in and change things when sometimes it is better not to."

Many teachers had told him that there had already been so many changes that they needed time to consolidate so they could do a good job.

He commented about the geography class he had visited during his tour of the school where all were working on computers.

"That would have been science fiction at the time when I was at school."