The beleaguered Conservatives need to summon the resolve of outnumbered British Empire soldiers who fought off the Zulu army, according to senior Tory Sir Geoffrey Cox.
The former Attorney General, whose booming voice was regularly heard during Parliament’s Brexit wars, said Rishi Sunak needed to narrate a campaign story better if the Tories are to avert electoral disaster.
But Lord Patten, another historically minded Conservative grandee who served as the final imperial governor of Hong Kong, said the party appeared to be determined to lose its upcoming election battle with Labour.
Polls show Labour on an average lead of 20 points, enough for a landslide that Sir Geoffrey said could leave the Conservatives struggling to fill a credible front bench in opposition.
"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,” he told GB News.
"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 added.
"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.”
The PM and his Cabinet lieutenants must start outlining “the fabled vision” and outline the ideas that would underpin another five years of Tory government, Sir Geoffrey said.
But he said they must also call to mind the roughly 150 troops who saw off thousands of Zulu warriors at the Battle of Rorke’s Drift in 1879 in present-day South Africa.
“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 MP said.
"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."
As immortalised in the Michael Caine film Zulu, Rorke's Drift was a spirited rearguard defence that followed a humiliating British defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana. The Zulus saw off that first attempted invasion before succumbing in a second.
Lord Patten said the Conservatives risked becoming their own worst enemy, observing that as Tory chairman in 1992, he helped John Major and a much more united party spring a surprise victory over Labour.
Some Conservatives remain hopeful of a 92-like surprise. But asked if today's feuding party needs a long spell in opposition, Lord Patten said on LBC: “I fear that's what it seems to be working to achieve.”
The former European Union commissioner said the bigger issue was Brexit, which he called “the biggest disaster in British policymaking I think since the Second World War”.
As a peer, Lord Patten does not have a vote but he said he would not be able to back any Tory who had been in favour of Brexit.
And he said that unlike Labour under Jeremy Corbyn, “I don't think (Sir Keir) Starmer and Rachel Reeves are remotely dangerous.”
