Tory MPs did the right thing by ditching Iain Duncan Smith, John Major said on Sunday.

The former prime minister said his party could now win the next general election under Michael Howard.

The Conservatives, however, appear to have fallen back in the polls since Howard became leader.

A YouGov poll for the Sunday Times found the party has dropped two points to 36 per cent.

Labour meanwhile has surged by six per cent to 39 per cent, with the Liberal Democrats down two points to 20 per cent.

But MPs and senior party figures remain upbeat about their prospects under Howard.

In their new leader the Conservatives have a "genuine alternative prime minister", Major told Breakfast with Frost.

"He is a very high quality politician. I think he is a real match for Tony Blair," he added.

Whilst it "would be impossible not to feel sorry" for Duncan Smith, Major said the party were now in a winning position.

"We can win this election. Nobody should write this election off. If you look at the support that the Labour Party had for a long time it was a mile wide but half an inch deep. I think you can see the difficulties the government are now having," he said.

But he accepted that Duncan Smith could be "proud" of the progress he made in policy. "I think he has left the beginnings of a big policy portfolio," said Major.

The former Tory leader has joined Kenneth Clarke, William Hague and Duncan Smith on a new committee to advise the Tory frontbench.

The four senior figures will also take to the airwaves to support Howard and attack Tony Blair's record in government.

Interviewed on Sunday, Major went on to claim that Labour is failing on all the key indicators.

"If you look at the government dispassionately they have been there since 1997 with a huge majority and therefore capable of introducing whatever they wish," he said.

"They inherited the best performing economy any incoming government has inherited in the last 50 years. So they had a good economy, a clear parliamentary majority and I think one now has to look at the outcome. Is health better? I think not. Is education better? I think not. Is transport better? I think not.

"So we can run down a whole range of policy areas and see what has happened to the war chest of a good economy that they had and what have they done with the large, unassailable majority that they had and I think the answer to both of those things is not very much.''