In 2019 I stood in the Peterborough by-election. An unnecessary election caused by the then Labour MP being sent to prison.
I didn’t just lose. I came third behind the Brexit Party with only 21% of the vote.
Six months later, I became the MP for my home City of Peterborough. I didn’t win because of my good looks and charm.
I won because Boris Johnson was prime minister.
When he was with me knocking on doors, Facebook groups came alive with reports of Boris on Werrington streets.
He was mobbed as he wandering around the Bretton Centre. No one in modern politics has the same ‘rock star appeal’.
Just three years ago in Peterborough – at the 2021 election – we recorded even better results than in 2019.
It was the General Election all over again with paper candidates in council seats we never expected to win suddenly becoming councillors. At a by-election, we even won in Hartlepool.
Once again, in Peterborough, my good looks had nothing to do with it. It was the Boris factor.
That was then, this is now.
Undoubtedly, we face another big challenge. Not a Labour Party led by a very evidently dangerous Jeremy Corbyn. But a much savvier threat.
Labour is led by someone who tried to make Corbyn PM.
Hiding behind a boring exterior is a man who has changed his mind and flip flopped on every major issue facing our country.
Labour is hiding from the electorate their ideological commitment to open borders, tax and spend, and ever closer alignment with the EU.
Starmer is so beatable. But to do this we need our best eleven on the field.
This includes Boris. So come on No 10, pick up the phone.
Let’s put the band back together. Boris and Rishi were a winning combination. They can be again.
