Boris Johnson has said he is ‘up for it’ and will fly back to the UK from his Caribbean holiday to stand in the Tory leadership contest, an ally of the former prime minister has claimed.
Sir James Duddridge, one of Mr Johnson’s former parliamentary private secretaries, said: ‘I’ve been in contact with the boss via WhatsApp.
‘He’s going to fly back. He said, “I’m flying back, Dudders, we are going to do this. I’m up for it”.’
The MP for Rochford and Southend East was confident that Mr Johnson will get the 100 nominations from Tory colleagues to make it to the next stage of the contest ‘quite quickly’.
Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt is the only candidate who has officially declared she is running, but former chancellor Rishi Sunak is also expected to launch a challenge.
Sir James said Mr Johnson will argue he is ‘the only person that’s got a mandate’ from the 2019 general election and that he can ‘bring the party together’.
He said Mr Johnson has ‘learned and reflected’ during less than two months out of office, and knows he needs a No 10 operation that is ‘slicker’ and has ‘command of the details’.
Sir James added Mr Johnson knows he needs a ‘government of all talents’ and would ‘welcome back with open arms’ even those who ‘said despicable things about him’.
Supporters of Mr Johnson are backing the former PM to make an extraordinary political comeback following the dramatic resignation of Liz Truss.
He was picking up support from Cabinet ministers, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Simon Clarke.
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But the development will not be welcomed by all Tories, with former leader Lord William Hague warning Mr Johnson’s resurrection would lead to a ‘death spiral’ for the party.
He called it ‘possibly the worst idea I’ve heard of’ during his 46-year party membership, telling Times Radio: ‘I think it’d be a very, very bad idea to bring Boris Johnson back.
‘This all started, this unravelling, because Boris Johnson was unable to run the government in the right way, to keep it together in the right way, to uphold the high standards of conduct that are necessary in the highest offices in the land.
‘Him returning is the solution? That would be going round in circles and that could become a death spiral of the Conservative Party.
‘And I think it’s possibly the worst idea I’ve heard of in the 46 years I’ve been a member of the Conservative Party.’
Veteran backbencher Sir Roger Gale, a long-time critic of Mr Johnson, warned that if Mr Johnson succeeds he could be met with a wave of resignations by Tory MPs.
‘I think that there would be people, indeed like myself, who would find ourselves in the awful position of having to resign the Conservative whip,’ he told Times Radio.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who called for an immediate general election, said the potential return of a man deemed ‘unfit for office’ by his own MPs ‘adds insult to injury’ for voters.
For critics, a comeback would be particularly problematic as Mr Johnson still faces an investigation by the Commons Privileges Committee over claims he lied to Parliament over lockdown parties in Downing Street, which could potentially see him expelled as an MP.
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