Rishi Sunak is “absolutely right” to hold off calling an election because it gives voters time to see “the plan is working”, the foreign secretary has said. 

Lord Cameron told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips that the prime minister is a “good man, doing a great job at a difficult time” after a bruising set of results at the local elections.

Asked what advice he’d give Mr Sunak to close the 20-point gap in the polls with Labour, the former Tory leader said he’d tell him to “stick to the plan” – pointing to inflation coming down and the economy exiting recession.

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He added: “The longer actually we have between now and the election, the more you’re going to see the plan is working.”

The next election must be held by 28 January 2025.

Mr Sunak has previously said he intends to call it in the second half of this year, but that has not stopped speculation he could go earlier, possibly holding it in the summer.

Lord Cameron stressed he is “not in charge of election timing”.

But, he added, Mr Sunak “said the second half of the year and I think that’s absolutely right, because you can see the economic plan is working”.

He claimed Labour is “desperate for the election now because the longer we have between now and the election, the more you’re going to see the plan is working”.

He also insisted Mr Sunak is “definitely” the right person to be leading the party – as he ruled out a possible return to Downing Street to help the Conservatives reverse their electoral fortunes.

Asked about the prospect of going for the top job again, the former prime minister said: “No, no. I am now foreign secretary. I sit in the House of Lords. I’m not in the House of Commons. I’m part of Rishi’s team.

“That is what I’m interested in doing. And that’s what I’m going to do.”

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If Labour wins the next election, it would end 14 years of Conservative governments under five prime ministers, including Lord Cameron – who stepped down after the UK voted to leave the European Union.

Mr Sunak last week admitted he might not win when the nation goes to the polls, but suggested the UK is on course for a hung parliament. He later insisted the outcome of the election is “not a forgone conclusion”.

Most polls predict Labour is heading for a landslide victory like that secured by Tony Blair in 1997.

In the local elections, Labour won 1,158 seats in the 107 councils in England that held ballots on 2 May, an increase of more than 232.

The Liberal Democrats won 552 seats, up nearly 100, while the Tories came in third place on 515 seats, down nearly 500.

Accusations MP Natalie Elphicke lobbied the justice secretary in 2020 to interfere in her then-husband’s sex offences trial are “nonsense”, her spokesperson has said.

It is claimed the Dover MP, who recently defected from Conservative to Labour, approached Sir Robert Buckland when he was lord chancellor and justice secretary before the hearing of Charlie Elphicke’s case.

The Sunday Times reported that she allegedly told Sir Robert that it was unfair the case was the first to be heard at Southwark Crown Court after the COVID lockdown and that it was being overseen by Lady Justice Whipple.

One person present viewed her comments as a bid to have the case moved to a lower-profile court to spare her partner public scrutiny, while another saw it as an attempt to replace the senior judge, according to the newspaper.

Sir Robert reportedly told the paper he rejected her plea, suggesting his intervention could undermine the constitutional doctrine of the separation of powers between parliament and the judiciary.

“She was told in no uncertain terms that it would have been completely inappropriate to speak to the judge about the trial at all,” Sir Robert said in a statement.

In a statement responding to the claims, also published in The Mail on Sunday, a spokesman for Ms Elphicke said: “This is nonsense.

“It’s certainly true that Mr Elphicke continued to be supported after his imprisonment by a large number of Conservative MPs who had known him for a long time, including some who visited him and independently lobbied on his behalf, which was nothing to do with Natalie.”

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A Labour Party spokesman said Ms Elphicke “totally rejects that characterisation of the meeting”.

“If Robert Buckland had any genuine concerns about the meeting, then he should have raised them at the time, rather than making claims to the newspapers now Natalie has chosen to join the Labour Party,” the spokesman said.

Ms Elphicke’s former husband and predecessor as MP for Dover, Charlie Elphicke, was convicted in 2020 of sexually assaulting two women and jailed for two years.

She ended the marriage after his conviction but supported his unsuccessful appeal, saying Mr Elphicke had been “attractive, and attracted to women” and “an easy target for dirty politics and false allegations”.

Ms Elphicke allegedly also tried to secure him better prison conditions, asking for more comfortable pillows, The Sunday Times reported, something she also denied.

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Following news of Ms Elphicke’s defection this week, Labour MPs raised concerns about the decision to admit her to the party, citing her comments about Mr Elphicke’s case and his victims.

In a statement on Thursday, she said she condemned “his behaviour towards other women and towards me”, adding it was “right that he was prosecuted” and she was “sorry for the comments that I made about his victims”.