FORMER Tory premiers have piled on to their party’s nationalist and populist turn in a clear warning to floundering Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch.

Boris Johnson has become the latest ex-leader to join the fray, telling the Smart Society Show podcast today that the Tories would not win the next election by “bashing the green agenda.”

Ms Badenoch has committed to repealing the Climate Change Act and abandoning net zero targets, but Mr Johnson warned “in my party it’s all about bashing the green agenda, and personally I don’t think we’ll get elected on that.

“I didn’t see us soaring in the polls as a result of saying what rubbish net zero is. I didn’t see a massive leap in support for the Conservatives.”

Theresa May also slammed the shift on climate policy this week, telling the House of Lords that it was “an extreme and unnecessary measure.”

And John Major, last Tory prime minister of the 20th century, warned a Tory lunch that saying “no to climate change” fell outside “the majority of public opinion.”

Lady May also slammed the “villainisation of the judiciary” in a pointed jab at shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick’s Conservative conference speech, in which he pledged to sack judges he disagreed with and appoint those more to his liking.

Sir John said that any idea of a pact between the Tories and Reform would be “beyond stupid,” pointing to the loss of dozens of Conservative seats across southern England to the Liberal Democrats.