Sir Geoffrey Cox: Tories might not be able to form an Opposition frontbench after election wipeout

And he called for Rishi Sunak and his team of ministers to set out the “fabled vision thing, the pathway to the future, the ambitions, the aspirations that Conservative Governments should be all about” to turn the polls around.

Speaking on Chopper's Political Podcast on Friday, he pointed to polls suggesting Labour will be left with a 200 MP majority with a landslide majority at this year's expected general election.

A poll by Suvation conducted by Survation, published last autumn, suggested Labour was on course to win a 190-seat majority.

The Tories would take just 149 seats and the Lib Dems 23, mirroring the 1997 landslide victory won by Tony Blair.

Cox said: “The suggestion that Labour might win a 200-seat majority effectively annihilates any credible opposition.

“That's bad for democracy, but on our part, we need to show why we should be elected again, why our party stands for really important values and principles.”

Cox added: “A party has no right to be tired. It must renew, reinvigorate and re-inspire itself in the country. The Conservative Party stands for something essential in the soul of this country ...

“You couldn't have a credible opposition. Under the Blair landslide in '97 the Conservative Party had great difficulty manning a frontbench. Our system means that without that credible Opposition, it's very bad and unhealthy for democracy.”

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Asked if that could happen if current polls giving Labour a huge lead were borne out, Cox said: “On the current polls, yes, it could. And I think we have to reflect very deeply on whether or not that is a sane and sensible thing to happen in this country.

“But, the fault lies at the Conservative Party's door. If we are not making our case as well as we should be, then we've got to make it better.”

Cox called for Sunak, the Prime Minister, and other Cabinet ministers to do more to sell a vision to voters of why the Tories deserved another five years in power.

“The Prime Minister is a serious administrator and a man of government. He's interested in achieving things, not in grandstanding. And I think, to be fair, he is starting to show that he's turning things around,” he said.

“If I had a criticism, yes - not that he should be grandstanding, I don't think that's in his character - but we need to know a little bit more about you. He's got a great story to tell.

“This is a young man who went round on his bicycle delivering prescriptions to people in Southampton from the corner shop his parents own.

“We need to hear a little bit more about him, about why he loves this country as much as he plainly does, and he needs to get that across to the public I think.”

He added that “where we do need to see more is on the fabled vision thing, the pathway to the future, the ambitions, the aspirations that Conservative governments should be all about”.

He added: “Where are the secretaries of state making big speeches about the three new ideas they've got in their departments for the next government? Where are the ferment of ideas that we should be in? I would like to see the government starting to pronounce about.”

Cox compared the Tories to the 150 British and colonial troops who fought off thousands of Zulu warriors at the Battle of Rorke's Drift in 1879.

He said: “My view is simple. We have to remain steady. We have to keep our nerve. We have to invoke our Rorke's Drift mentality. We have to keep calm. Keep our nerve. We have to do everything based on evidence.

“The economy is turning round. We have to take one step at a time. But above all, nothing is to be gained by panicking. We have to remain steady in the face of the enemy.”