A political party that suffers a major defeat after 18 years in power is obviously in need of serious self-examination. If it repeats the experience four years later at an election marked by an unusually high degree of abstention, the need for wrenching change may well become inescapable.

The question for Britain's Conservative Party this summer is whether it is ready to undergo such a process after having been roundly defeated for the second time by Prime Minister Tony Blair's New Labour Party. The Tories' defeat in the June general election made it inevitable that Conservative leader Mr. William Hague would have to step down, which he did swiftly and with dignity.

The party's spokesman on financial and economic affairs, Shadow Chancellor Michael Portillo, appeared to be the leading candidate to take over. He put himself forward as the man who could bring together the various wings of the party behind a new and forward-looking platform that is more socially liberal than the hard-right positions Mr. Hague often fell back on.