Ex-Brexit chief rules out bid to become MP... for now at least
FORMER Brexit chief David Frost has hinted he could quit the House of Lords to stand as an MP.
The Tory peer, who served as a Cabinet Office minister until last year, said he would not run in a forthcoming by-election in Devon but did not rule out a future bid.
MPs and friends have urged Lord Frost to consider becoming an MP, describing him as a ‘great candidate’ to become a future prime minister and a ‘statesmanlike’ figure.
In an interview with Nigel Farage on GB News on Monday, Lord Frost was asked whether he will stand in the Tiverton and Honiton by-election, which was triggered by the resignation of MP Neil Parish after he admitted watching pornography in the House of Commons.
He replied: ‘I don’t think the Lords is a particularly brilliant place to do real politics from. I think you need to be in the Commons to do real politics – that’s obvious. I’ve only just left Government obviously, and I’m contributing ideas and by writing. But I’ll be honest: I don’t think it is right this time round for all kinds of reasons.’
But he added: ‘If in the future the opportunity comes up and the party wants me to do it, then obviously I would be ready to stand down from the seat and do proper politics again.’
The law was changed in 2014 to allow peers to resign as sitting members. While life peerages cannot be relinquished, membership of the Upper House now can.
Life peers who are no longer members of the House of Lords regain the right to vote in elections to the Commons.
Lord Frost also claimed that the civil service continues to ‘regret’ Brexit.
He said the sense of regret is ‘still there’, adding: ‘It’s definitely been weakened I would say since 2016, people have got used to the idea. I think what people are finding hard now in Government and in the civil service is suddenly being in charge – when we were in the EU, you didn’t have to think. Now, all of a sudden, our destiny is in our own hands, and we’re hesitating a little bit and that’s probably underlining some of the problems we’ve got at the moment.’