Lord Frost drops strong hints he could stand to become a Tory MP

Lord Frost has given his strongest indication yet that he plans to stand to become a Tory MP at the next general election, but said he will only do so if Boris Johnson cuts taxes.

The former Brexit minister, who is from Derby, announced he would prefer a seat in the East Midlands and insisted he would only run for the House of Commons “if people want me to go for it”.

In an interview, he said the Government did not “seem to have a plan and people can sense that”. He called for the Prime Minister to return to a traditional Conservative agenda.

He said the confidence vote against Mr Johnson, in which 148 Tory MPs voted to oust the Prime Minister, showed “the large part of the party is uncomfortable with the direction of travel”.

Asked if he plans to stand at the next election, Lord Frost told BBC Radio Derby: “If the party wants me to and a local party is interested in having me, then obviously I’d take that seriously.

“Obviously Derbyshire, the East Midlands, is the kind of area that I feel I know and am interested in and love.

“And I hope by then, the Government will be back on track and have some results that we can credibly campaign on.

“It’s tricky as a Conservative to stand on a policy of increasing taxes, increasing energy costs and making life more difficult for people.

“I don’t really see that as a winning proposition. I hope by then we’ll have delivered some tax cuts, and the PM says we will have.”

Lord Frost said he had not expected to stay in politics after resigning as a minister last December, but that he was being encouraged by colleagues to run for the Commons.

He praised Mr Johnson as an “extremely clever guy” and revealed the pair were still in touch, but also said the Prime Minister had been “obviously damaged” by partygate.

However, he added the biggest threat to the Tories’ majority is that the party is “missing a sense of direction”, warning that “time is running out” for the party to turn things around.

Number 10 is spending too much time “worrying about day to day headlines” and has become scared of “taking tough decisions people don’t like because you know it’s the right thing”, he said.

Lord Frost added: “We can get back to strong politics and doing the right thing for the country, and I think people want that.

“At the moment, we don’t seem to have a plan and people can sense that and that’s why we’ve got some of the difficulties.”

Lord Frost shocked at abuse of politicians

His remarks strongly suggest he is planning to run, despite having expressed shock at the vitriol figures in public life receive from the public.

In an interview with ConservativeHome this week, the former diplomat turned politician said he had been spat at and pushed over his stance on Brexit.

“Most people become ministers and do controversial things in politics after they’ve been an MP,” he told the website.

“For me it all came suddenly out of the blue, and having to get used to the public exposure suddenly, without any kind of prep, has been quite shocking in some ways to me.

“The degree of aggression, hostility on social media and beyond, has been quite striking to me. I’ve had people spit at me in the street, push me, shout at me on trains, this sort of thing.

“So I’m now a bit edgy about any kind of public interaction. That has been a real surprise and disappointment to me.

“I mean it shows the passions that have been unleashed.”