Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson could make a spectacular return to Parliament, according to a close political ally.
He could be the Conservative candidate in a Runcorn and Helsby by-election according to Jacob Rees-Mogg.
The seat’s current MP, Mike Amesbury, has been sentenced to ten weeks in prison after he admitted punching a constituent in a 3am assault. So far Amesbury, originally elected as a Labour MP, has refused to resign from Parliament but local voters can force a by-election if ten percent sign a petition demanding one.
Mr Rees-Mogg, who was given a top job in Boris Johnson’s Cabinet as leader of the Commons, predicted his rellow Brexiteer could be the Conservative candidate and win.
But Mr Rees-Mogg said victory for Boris would need “an alliance to defeat Labour”, which could mean Conservatives and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK joining forces.
Speaking on GB News, he said: “Labour MP Mike Amesbury has been sentenced to ten weeks in prison after pleading guilty to assault after he repeatedly punched a constituent in the street in October.
“But Mr Amesbury will continue receiving his £91,000 a year salary from prison, prompting questions about whether Parliament ought to expel him, as it removed Peter Baker in 1954 and Horatio Bottomley in 1922 when they were sent to prison.
“Parliament has the right to expel members. I don’t understand why a government majority of 173 doesn’t follow the traditional process where the Leader of the House puts down a motion to expel somebody who’s gone to prison.
“It seems to me that it really offends the electorate that somebody who has been found guilty, engaged in prison, is going to be paid for those ten weeks.
“I heard Yvette Cooper on the radio saying, ‘it’s a matter for Parliament, not for the government’.
“This is such nonsense. The government has a majority; it can just do it if it wants to.
“Voters will very likely, in a by-election of this kind, say, ‘our main aim is to defeat the government. It hasn’t done very well in its first seven, eight months, we will vote for the party most likely to do it’, and Conservative voters won’t be rallying to the flag.
“But what if Boris Johnson stood in this seat? If there’s an alliance to defeat Labour, Boris could easily be the beneficiary of that, if he threw his hat into the ring.”
Mr Johnson was Prime Minister from 2019 to 2022 but was forced out of office by Conservative MPs following a row over so-called parties in Number 10 and the drunken behaviour of former Conservative deputy chief whip Christopher Pincher.
