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Tories would be doing better if they hadn’t killed Boris and Rishi should NOT have sacked Suella, Lord Frost says
Watch as Lord Frost reveals the key reasons Tories held back on tackling migration in the past
THE Tories are too scared to tackle migration for fear of "looking nasty" and would be doing better under Boris Johnson, Brexit guru Lord Frost has blasted.
In a scathing post-mortem of Rishi Sunak's leadership, the Tory peer said kicking Suella Braverman out and bringing in David Cameron effectively sealed the fate of the party.
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He told The Sun's politics show Never Mind The Ballots that was the moment voters "lost confidence".
The Tory peer - who resigned from Mr Johnson's Government - also insisted his former boss would be doing a much better job as PM had he not been ousted by MPs.
In a thinly veiled attack against Mr Sunak, Lord Frost praised Mr Johnson for always knowing where “public opinion was” and where “the party had to position itself”.
His pre-election post-mortem comes as pollsters say the Tories are heading for “electoral extinction”, all the while Nigel Farage’s Reform rises through the ranks.
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The former chief Brexit negotiator has been sounding the alarm on the party’s polling slump for months and has been a huge critic of the current Tory leadership.
He was involved in commissioning an opinion poll that laid bare the likely impact of the Conservatives' unpopularity.
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Since quitting Mr Johnson’s Cabinet at the end of 2021, he has championed more traditional Tory policies and a hardline stance on migration.
Appearing on today’s episode of our show, Lord Frost said: “All political parties have got to offer something pretty serious on migration.
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"And the credibility of the Conservative Party is obviously pretty weak on this.
“In my view, we need to get net migration down to something pretty close to zero.”
He added: “We've got to get off this sugar rush of ‘only migration can deliver growth’.”
Asked why the Tories have not been able to achieve this, Lord Frost said: “A lot of Tories don't want to look nasty.”
'Back to the Cameron era'
Talking about when voters had lost faith in Mr Sunak’s leadership, the Tory peer said: “The moment they lost confidence was the autumn reshuffle when Suella (Braverman) was was kicked out, David Cameron was brought back.
"It symbolised the tilt back to the old world, not just the left, but a world in which we try to pretend that Brexit had never happened.
"Back to the Cameron era, back to the way things were. And people don't want that. They want change.”
All political parties have got to offer something pretty serious on migration
Lord David Foster
Asked if he thought the party would be doing better had MPs not killed Mr Johnson, he said: "I do. Probably (in a better place). I don't think Boris is in any way a perfect leader, for all the reasons that we discovered.
"Because we had sort of set on a somewhat more social democratic path."
He added: "What Boris did have was a sense to where public opinion was, what it would put up with and what it wouldn't, and where the party had to position itself."
On a potential comeback, he said: "I do still talk to Boris, obviously.
"I think he is thinking about what what what's going to happen but I am not sure we will see much more."
Reversing Brexit
Lord Frost also said if Labour win the election, the party will water down Brexit and drag Britain back into the EU's orbit.
He said: "We do have to face this prospect that Labour are going to water down the deal we got.
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Back to the Cameron era, back to the way things were. And people don't want that. They want change
Lord David Foster
“No doubt they're going to try and get us closer into the single market even if there won't be like a stroke of a pen that does the whole thing.
"And we are going back in the orbit of the EU."
Tories warn Labour will put ‘Brexit in peril’
By Ryan Sabey, Deputy Political Editor
SENIOR Tories have warned Labour will put “Brexit in peril” after Rachel Reeves called for a reset of the UK’s relationship with Brussels.
Ex-Trade Secretary Liam Fox fears the June 2016 decision to leave the EU could be at risk if the Tories aren’t re-elected next month.
His intervention came after the shadow Chancellor said she wants to revisit closer ties in sectors such as chemicals and for City of London workers.
The comments appear to go further than previously aired on calling for improved trade terms - despite both parties appearing reluctant to talk about Brexit during the campaign.
The former Cabinet Minister said: “Disgruntled Conservatives who vote Reform will put Brexit in peril if they result in a Labour government.
“Starmer and Reeves make no secret of wanting to bring the UK under EU rules over which we would have no say. Is this really the change they want to bring about at this election?”
Lord Frost, who negotiated the UK’s Brexit deal, said: “You can’t trust Labour on Brexit.”
He added: “I’m happy to deepen ties with any friendly country, whether in the EU or not.
“I don’t want to be governed by them and I don’t want their laws and courts to have force in this country without us having a say. That’s what Labour want.”
But Ms Reeves told The Sun yesterday that the UK wouldn’t go back into the realms of the bloc’s regulations after the 2016 vote.
“The Labour government wouldn’t bring any of those things back. But do I believe the deal we got was the best deal available? I don’t.”
The senior Labour figure caused controversy after declaring she wants to cut bureaucracy in some industries after prices have gone through the roof.
She said closer alignment wouldn’t mean abiding by European Court of Justice decisions if closer ties in chemical and veterinary sectors took place.
Ms Reeves said: “If you look at New Zealand, they are not part of the ECJ but they have got a farming and fishing agreement - a veterinary agreement - with the EU. So I don’t want to take us back into those institutions.
“But I do want to make it easier for great British businesses to be able to export around the world.”
She added that she wants to make it easier for companies to benefit from major trade deals.
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