Inspiring scenes of people taking the future of their countries into their own hands will ignite greater demands for good governance and political reform elsewhere in the world, including in Asia and in Africa.

Hague rose through the ranks of John Major's government and entered the Cabinet in 1995 as the Secretary of State for Wales. In Parliament he has represented the constituency of Richmond (Yorks) since 1989. After David Cameron was elected leader of the Conservative Party in 2005 Hague returned to front line politics as shadow foreign secretary.