The UK’s former chief Brexit negotiator and Tory peer Lord David Frost predicted that his party is “hurtling towards a terrible defeat” at the next general election.
Speaking to LBC’s Andrew Marr on Wednesday night, Frost – once Boris Johnson’s Brexit minister – had a sobering prediction for Rishi Sunak.
He said: “You only have to look at the polls, obviously we’re hurtling to defeat, we’re hurtling towards a terrible defeat.”
The Conservatives have been trailing in the opinion polls for months – and hit a new low just this week.
A survey from Savanta put the Conservatives on just 25%, 18 points behind Labour, who are on 43%.
The result is the lowest level the pollster has recorded for the Conservatives since October 2022 – just days before Truss quit Downing Street after just 49 days as prime minister.
Frost continued: “Every poll one looks at says the same thing, we’re going to lose and we’re going to lose bad, and the only debate is how bad.
“So, we have to do something to change the story and bring our voters back and at the moment, we’re not doing that.’
Frost’s prediction follows a February poll from ConservativeHome which found 65% of other Tory members are expecting a Labour majority after the public cast their votes.
He also told Marr that he still believes Sunak can transform the Conservative Party “into the kind of Conservative Party that I would like to see”.
“I believe he stands for a lot of those things himself, but he has the problem that the party is a very broad church,” Frost claimed.
He claimed the prime minister has tilted “to the left of the party”, and suggested that he should “make sure we’re offering things that deal with the real problems of the country and try and bring back some of those who represent that view within the party.”
Frost’s comments follow speculation that Johnson could return to campaign for the Conservatives ahead of the next election.
The Tory peer – and Johnson ally – said, “I think Boris returning might help the presentation” of what the Party has to offer, but concluded: “I don’t think it necessarily changes the substance of the offer”.
The date of the next general election is yet to be confirmed, but plenty of MPs on both sides of the House still believe it will be called in May.