The Conservatives would be "wiped out" if a general election was held tomorrow, a senior Tory MP has warned.
Putting his party on notice, Sir Charles Walker, MP for Broxbourne, said the Tories "first duty is not to get re-elected".
Four polls from YouGov, Survation, Redfield & Wilton and Deltapoll, last night showed Labour has surged to its highest-ever leads over the Tories.
The Deltapoll survey for the Mirror gave Keir Starmer's party a 19-point lead over the Tories - one of the biggest Labour leads ahead of the next election, which Liz Truss will happen in 2024.
When asked about the latest polls, Mr Walker said:"If there was a general election tomorrow, there won't be, but if there was, the Tories would be wiped out.
"We would cease to exist as a functioning politial party.
Image:
James McCauley/REX/Shutterstock)"We will come back but that won't mean we will win the general election. It's looking pretty bad right now."
Mr Walker suggested the Tories could suffer a 1997 style defeat when Tony Blair led the Labour party to a landslide victory.
He later told Times Radio: "I think it's hard to construct an argument now that the Conservatives can win that general election, I suspect the conversation is, you know, how much do we lose it by?
"And what is our duty to the country and our duty to the country is to get the public finances in the best shape possible.
"So if we do lose the general election, we hand over some form of a legacy to the party or government that replaces us. I mean, we're a patriotic party.
"That's our first duty, is to the country. Our first duty is not to get re-elected, our first duty is to the country."
