Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson is reportedly mulling over his options amid claims he could stand in the Tory leadership race following the resignation of his replacement Liz Truss this afternoon. The former PM, who is currently on holiday, is said to be “taking soundings” on whether to run again, according to The Times.
Some of his fellow MPs have already started backing Boris to take the top role once again, even though he only left office last month on September 6. Tory MP Brendan Clarke-Smith has called for him to stand.
Mr Clarke-Smith said he thought Mr Johnson would be “potentially” interested.
“We need someone who can come in, we need somebody who can bring people together, somebody who actually has got that mandate. So a mandate from people in the last general election, a mandate from party members and somebody actually who can get this party going again, get us winning elections again,” he told Sky News.
“The only person that I think that ticks all those boxes is Boris Johnson.”
Justin Tomlinson said it was “wishful thinking” to imagine that Boris Johnson could return as Prime Minister. The Tory MP, who described himself as someone who had strongly supported the former prime minister in the past, told Sky News: “I just think it’s too soon. I was there supporting him to the very end but he did lose the confidence of the majority of our colleagues.
“I thought that was wrong. But you have to respect that. I don’t think a sufficient enough time has probably passed for the party to then unite behind him and for me this now is about us, frankly, being grown up, being pragmatic and putting the country first.”
MP Bob Seely, who backed Penny Mordaunt in the summer’s Conservative Party leadership contest, said he hoped she would run for leader. He also told indicated to Sky News that he did not want to "go back" to the time when Boris Johnson was leader.
He said: "Good luck to Boris. I don’t want to go back to a few months ago where we were so whoever is going to get through I think there’s going to be quite a high threshold,” he told Sky News. “And I will see personally who those candidates are when they get the numbers.”
Government minister Sir James Duddridge said it was time for a comeback by Boris. Tweeting with the hashtag #bringbackboris, he said: “I hope you enjoyed your holiday boss. Time to come back. Few issues at the office that need addressing.”
Sir James had served as a parliamentary private secretary to Mr Johnson when he was in No 10.
Marco Longhi MP added: "The only person who has a mandate from the general public, is Boris Johnson MP. He is the only person that commands that authority given to him by the public at a General Election. He is the only person who can discharge the mandate from the people. Please come back Boss."
However, Boris should not be allowed to return to office while still under investigation for potentially lying to Parliament, a Tory veteran has said. Sir Roger Gale said: “We need to remember that Mr Johnson is still under investigation by the Privileges Committee for potentially misleading the House.
“Until that investigation is complete and he is found guilty or cleared, there should be no possibility of him returning to Government.”
Covid Bereaved Families for Justice UK said on Twitter that it was "devastating" for families who had lost loved ones during the pandemic to think that Boris could return as Prime Minister.
They tweeted: "It’s devastating for bereaved families to think that anyone in the Conservative party is considering bringing Boris Johnson back as PM. This is the man who oversaw the deaths of 200,000 British citizens to Covid-19 on his watch."
Meanwhile, actor Stephen Fry told his 12 and a half million Twitter followers: "No @BorisJohnson no no no no no NO! Under absolutely no circumstances. Ever. Ever ever ever, d’you hear?"
The Liberal Democrats said: "The fact that Conservative MPs are considering putting Boris Johnson back in Number 10 shows how out of touch they are. They think there’s one rule for them and another for everyone else. The future of our country should be in the hands of voters, not the Conservative MPs."
