Boris Johnson is being tipped to make a sensational return to Downing Street less than 18 months after being ousted as Prime Minister. And insiders believe an unprecedented team-up with former UKIP and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage – currently starring in I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here – could even be on the cards.
Rishi Sunak, the current occupant of Number 10, is under intense pressure over his plan to send failed asylum seekers to Rwanda, which the UK’s Supreme Court has ruled to be illegal. Emergency legislation aimed at addressing the problem by ordering British judges and courts to ignore some sections of the UK Human Rights Act was published last week.
However, this was not enough to prevent immigration minister Robert Jenrick from quitting last week. In his resignation letter, Mr Jenrick claimed the Government’s emergency Rwanda legislation “does not go far enough”.
Insiders have told The Mail on Sunday patience is now wearing thin, with many Tory backbenchers convinced bringing back the man who led them to a thumping victory at the last general election is the only way to prevent a wipeout in the next one. The timing is awkward for Mr Sunak, as he gears for a crucial vote on the Rwanda Bill.
Tories are also understood to have drawn up what is colloquially being referred to as an “advent calendar of s***” to destabilise Mr Sunak after his decision to sacking Suella Braverman as Home Secretary. Backbenchers are ready to rebel in the Commons, with one plotter admitting the plan was to “crash” the Sunak government.
Panic is rife among Tory MPs with the party lagging behind Labour in the polls and apparently losing support to Reform UK, the successor the Brexit Party. Mr Farage’s appearance on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity has also raised his profile significantly.
Rebels reportedly see Mr Johnson as the only Conservative with the ability to shore up support in so-called Red Wall seats in the midlands and north, which he won four years ago. Alternatively, staunch Brexiteer Kemi Badenoch is being touted as another possible replacement for Mr Sunak.
Number 10 insists Mr Sunak is ready to lead the Tories into next year’s election. Meanwhile a spokesman for Mr Johnson distanced themselves from a Farage partnership, insisting: “Boris Johnson is currently writing a book and is supporting the Government.” Similarly, a source close to Mr Farage said any team-up with the former PM would “soon end in tears” although it is believed the pair have been urged to talk.
Mr Johnson stood down as an MP earlier this year, but his supporters believe if one of their colleagues resigned prior to the election to make way for him, the party would be unable to block his candidacy. A leadership contest could then be triggered if a minimum of 53 letters of no confidence in Mr Sunak were submitted to 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady.
Despite attending the Tories’ annual conference in the autumn while working for GB News, Mr Farage has so far poured cold water on suggestions that he could make a sensational return to the party he has not been a member of since 1992, even though Mr Sunak himself appeared to float the idea at the time. Mr Farage subsequently said: “It’s very, very sweet of you, Prime Minister, but I’m really sorry, the answer is no, I will not.”
Reform UK could fill “a gap in the political market”, he suggested – although he has ruled out standing as a candidate next year. He explained: “This party has been bubbling away quietly just under the radar.”
Former Brexit minister Lord David Frost is among those who have suggested Mr Farage would be an asset for the Tories, describing him as “in many ways” a Conservative. Speaking last month, Mr Fros said: “Obviously he believes in many of the things I believe in – free markets, low immigration, all these kinds of things and people can see that.
“So he’s a natural part of the right movement in this country, which unfortunately has got divided between different parties. But I personally think the more people who are out there arguing for what I think, the better things are.”
