Michael Howard must remodel the Conservative Party as the "broad church" it used to be, a senior backbench MP has argued.

On the eve of Howard's widely-predicted "coronation" as party leader, David Curry said that pro-European Tories must be welcomed back into the fold.

Curry, who resigned from the Shadow Cabinet in 1997 in protest at William Hague's European policy, is tipped for a possible comeback to the frontline.

"I think that he recognises that the party has got to be more ecumenical, that if it's to broaden it's appeal, if it's to appeal to a wider part of the electorate, it has got to get back to being that broad church," Curry told ePolitix.com.

Curry, who is currently chairman of the Commons environment select committee, warned Howard against ignoring the small but influential number of pro-European Tories.

Failing to adopt an inclusive approach would limit the party's appeal in the country, he added.

"Part of the broad church, it may only be an apse, but part of the broad church is the pro-European element," he said.

"I think he's a sensible enough man to know that the party must not be sectarian, it's got to start being ecumenical."

The Skipton and Ripon MP, who is close to former chancellor Kenneth Clarke, is not ruling out a return to the Tory frontbench.

"It depends what was offered and what conditions were, so I would not exclude serving if I felt there was a job that I could do properly," he told this website.