Tory leader William Hague insisted yesterday he was not afraid to copy some of Labour's winning ways in a bid to revive the fortunes of his ailing party.

In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Hague repeated his pledge to take on the problems of the party and re-invent it as a ''fresh, open, clear, clean, out-going, listening'' outfit.

It was vital to recognise that people's perception of ''arrogant'' and ''divided'' Tories had led to a ''very serious defeat'', the new leader told BBC radio. ''We have to demonstrate that that is no longer the case,'' he said.

Mr Hague admitted: ''It's a recognition that we were outclassed by other parties in some aspects of organisation in recent elections . . . We are going to surpass them in the future. That means learning things from them. It even means copying the odd thing from them - but not slavishly.''

But he stressed this did not mean all diversity had to be driven out of the party - the Labour party had ''overdone'' this, he claimed.

''If you look at the Labour party in Parliament, they look a pretty lifeless and pathetic lot on the backbenches. I don't ever want the Conservatives to look like that,'' Mr Hague said.

Mr Hague outlined plans to set up an electoral college so that MPs and ordinary members of the party could vote for - or possibly remove - a leader.

Mr Hague confirmed his opposition to Scottish and Welsh devolution, though he indicated if he became Prime Minister the result of the forthcoming referendums would not be reversed.

Pressed on the Tory stance on a European single currency, Mr Hague appeared to retreat from earlier statements ruling out membership for 10 years.

''The policy will be as I set it out in the leadership election, that we are against joining a single currency now and I expect that to be our policy at the next General Election . . . which would of course relate to the Parliament after that,'' he said.

Economic and monetary union is not the only issue in Europe, he stressed. ''We are going to be positive about having good relations with our neighbours but that doesn't mean that we are slavishly going to sign up to every idea that comes out of Europe,'' Mr Hague said.

Mr Hague was reluctant to cite Tory policy on other issues: ''Anybody who thinks they can write the manifestos for the next General Election of any party would be extremely foolish or extraordinarily clever.

''I'm not going to set out to write the policies for the next General Election now.

''I'm going to put our house in order, I'm going to equip us with an election-winning machine, I am going to make sure that we are listening to millions of people across the country and that we have some genuine debate in our party about what to do. I'm going to pace us through Opposition.''

Mr Hague rejected suggestions that his image as ''not the youngest 36-year-old'' might compare poorly with Tony Blair. ''I'm going to be myself,'' he protested.

The Tory leader denied having his own image consultants, saying: ''I'll take a bit of advice now and again but I'm not going to say I must now become a totally different person.

''People want to see politicians be themselves, stand up for what they believe. That's what they're going to get from the Conservative party under my leadership.''

Labour later attacked Mr Hague as saying ''nothing more than a load of waffle''. Trade Minister Barbara Roche said: ''He revealed he stands for nothing and has no policies to offer.''

Earlier Mr Martin Bell, Independent MP for Tatton, praised Mr Hague for forcing the Conservative party to address the real reasons for their General Election defeat, without blaming the electorate or the other parties.