Boris Johnson's former chief Brexit negotiator has warned the prime minister he has until the autumn to get his government back on track.
In a column for Friday's Daily Telegraph, Lord David Frost listed three key changes Johnson should make to policies and governing style if he wants to keep his job past the Conservative Party's conference in Birmingham in early October.
He said the PM "can’t ignore the depth of opposition" from his own backbenches after winning Monday night's no-confidence vote in his leadership by 211 Tory MPs' votes to 148.
The rebel votes came from a combination of ardent opponents of leaving the European union and, crucially, hard-line conservatives opposed to tax rises in recent budget to pay for the COVID-19 recovery.
"At the moment the Government risks looking overwhelmed by crises. Like the cockpit of a crashing airliner, the dashboard lights are all flashing red," Frost wrote.
The most urgent changes needed, he argued, were on the economy and regulation. Downing Street must reverse tax rises and pledge future cuts and lift the moratorium of gas fracking, recognise the importance of North Sea gas field and abolish value-added tax (VAT) on energy bills, Frost insisted.
The government must introduce legislation to repeal "large swathes of EU legislation" post-Brexit and eliminate trade tariffs. It should also scale back the Online Harms Bill to eliminate any restrictions on free speech and the tech industry.
Second, Frost called for a "10-year Conservative plan to restore the viability of the British state, based on freedom and individual liberty not collectivism" to promote productivity and growth, with the classic neoliberal prescription of "smaller government".
Energy policy should prioritise "security of supply" over reducing carbon emissions, education and the civil service should be "reformed" and the National Health Service "modernised" and social benefits benefits reserved for "those who need them".
Finally, Johnson should spend less time directly managing government and "focus on what he is good at – selling and explaining, as chair of the board – and get a serious deputy... who can design and deliver the strategy."
Frost warned that those moves are impossible unless Johnson overcomes his aversion to "upsetting people". But he insisted that "many of us still want him to succeed and will support him if he shows a sense of purpose."
Frosty Reception
On Thursday evening, Frost admitted to LBC radio he was considering a return to the political front line by seeking nomination as a Conservative Parliamentary candidate.
Frost made an early exit from the government last December, pre-empting his planned departure by a month and criticising Johnson's COVID-19 lockdown policy and drift away from core Tory ideals in his resignation letter.
Just two months earlier at the Conservative conference in Manchester, Johnson lauded the minister as "the greatest Frost since the Great Frost of 1709".
That choice of analogy was both provocative and uncannily prophetic. The harsh winter and spring of 1708-1709 caused famine in Europe, killing 200,000 in France alone. It also greatly thinned the ranks of Swedish King Charles XII's army during his invasion of Russia, leading to his catastrophic defeat at Poltava in Ukraine on July 8 1709.