Rishi Sunak has been urged to challenge “unrelenting negativity” from Remainers about the post-Brexit economy to win the next general election.
Brexiteer Dr Liam Fox said the Prime Minister needs to get across the “true facts” for the Tories to rise in the polls.
The former Cabinet minister’s intervention comes after the Conservatives this week suffered two bruising defeats in by-elections in the previously safe seats of Selby and Ainsty in North Yorkshire and Somerton and Frome in Somerset.
Dr Fox said in the run-up to the Brexit referendum in 2016, the British public was hit by a “barrage of dire warnings” about the economic consequences of leaving the EU.
The senior Tory said that since then Remainers have attempted to paint the picture that Brexit has been a “disaster”.
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But the ex-international trade secretary insisted that the warnings have not been borne out.
Dr Fox told The Telegraph: “There is a legitimate criticism of the Government in its failure to get across the true facts about the post-referendum economy, at a time when the unrelenting negativity of the hardline Remainers continues to poison our political discourse.
“That needs to change if our position in the polls is to recover, and we are to avoid a repeat of recent by-election losses.”
Labour and the Lib Dems overturned Tory majorities of around 20,000 to take Selby and Somerton respectively in Thursday’s ballots.
The Conservatives managed to hang on to Boris Johnson’s former seat Uxbridge and South Ruislip amid a row over London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s hated expansion of the ultra low emission zone (ULEZ).
Mr Sunak insisted the next general election is not a “done deal” after the shock victory in the west London constituency.
He said: “Westminster’s been acting like the next election is a done deal. The Labour Party has been acting like it’s a done deal. The people of Uxbridge just told all of them that it’s not.
“No one expected us to win here. But Steve [Tuckwell]’s victory demonstrates that when confronted with the actual reality of the Labour Party, when there’s an actual choice on a matter of substance at stake, people vote Conservative.
“By-elections, midterms for an incumbent Government, are always difficult. They rarely win them.
“The message I take away is that we’ve got to double down, stick to our plan and deliver for people. That’s what I heard when I was out on the doorsteps and that’s what we’re going to do.
“We’re going to work incredibly hard to deliver on our five priorities and earn people’s trust for the next election.”
