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Allies of Lord Frost have called for him to stand as MP in the by-election triggered by Neil Parish’s resignation.
The former Brexit minister is being urged to stand down as a peer and contest the Tiverton and Honiton seat in Devon, which has a Tory majority of more than 24,000.
One ally told The Sunday Telegraph that he was a ‘proper Conservative’ with ‘star quality’, who could even be a future prime minister.
Lord Frost, pictured, is understood to have indicated to friends that he would consider standing if Tory headquarters ‘want him to do it’.
Last month it was reported that friends had suggested the peer as a potential candidate for Wakefield, where the incumbent, Imran Ahmad Khan, resigned after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a teenage boy.
Lord Frost, pictured, is understood to have indicated to friends that he would consider standing if Tory headquarters ‘want him to do it’
Members of the House of Lords cannot stand for election in the Commons. But, as a result of changes introduced in 2014, Lord Frost could resign from the Lords to stand for a Commons seat.
Opposition parties, however, will be hoping for a backlash in Tiverton and Honiton akin to the Conservatives’ defeat in North Shropshire following the resignation of Owen Paterson last year.
Lord Frost, who has been critical of the direction of Mr Johnson’s administration, said Britain had developed ‘a strongly established culture of dependency, where people look to the state to solve their problems rather than making efforts themselves, and where business faces ever-growing practical obstacles to normal commercial activity’.
He added to the Telegraph: ‘It is always difficult to call a halt, but call it we must. This is a Conservative government and it is time to talk about Conservative principles – not only of low taxation and enterprise, but of freedom to act, to create and retain wealth, to debate and to speak freely even if others don’t like your opinions.’
Source: Daily Mail
