Plotting Boris Johnson has hosted a “very jolly” drinks bash for MPs and plans a new moneybags speech - despite his No10 comeback bid ending in humiliation.
The MP invited 60 people last night to his new office in Westminster, where he joked managing the Tory party was like handling his two kids on his rushed flight back from the Caribbean.
Mr Johnson flew back from a Dominican Republic holiday, taken while he was meant to be in Parliament, and spent a weekend trying to launch a run for No10 - only to pull out when key allies abandoned him.
Arch-loyalists Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg were among those who clinked Champagne on Tuesday night as he gave the speech - thought to be the first of a few for supporters over the coming months.
Despite promising to support his rival Rishi Sunak he also warned he would “protect his legacy” on Ukraine, Brexit, levelling up and the Tories’ 2019 manifesto.
An MP at the drinks said they were “very jolly”, adding: “I don’t think he has ruled out the option of a return some day, but it was not spoken about.
“He explained why he didn’t put his name forward to the membership for a ballot.”
It is the latest in a string of interventions from Mr Johnson - who last night gave his first TV interview since quitting, and is travelling to the COP27 climate summit in a move that could humiliate his successor.
Meanwhile he is plotting his second money-grabbing speech in a few months - despite still being paid £84,144 a year as the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
He is listed as giving an address of up to an hour on December 2 at an “international symposium” on blockchain, which promises “a new interoperability dimension coupling DeFi and CeFi”.
Given the flight times to Singapore he is likely to miss even more Commons business - after going missing for weeks for a previous speech and Caribbean holiday.
The speech is likely to be stupendously lucrative, after reports his first as an ex-PM - in Colorado last month - paid £135,000.
It could also raise questions about whether he is breaching ministerial rules. Ex-PMs are banned from any outside jobs for three months after leaving government. One-offs are allowed - but regular speaking arrangements are not.
Downing Street yesterday condemned Matt Hancock for going to Australia to film I’m a Celebrity…, saying MPs should work for their constituents.
But Rishi Sunak’s spokesman was tight-lipped on what should happen to MPs who go on holiday in the Caribbean.
During last night’s drinks Mr Johnson claimed the Tories will win the next election - despite trailing in the polls - because they “fundamentally have the right ideas” and “the British people are not willing to switch to Starmer.”
He claimed: “Starmer combines a bollard-like dullness with aching political correctness.”
Boris and Carrie Johnson are said to be living in a luxury cottage in the Cotswolds after they were put up by a billionaire Tory donor.
It's thought they still do not have a permanent home after being booted out of the Downing Street flat, which they revamped at a cost of more than £112,000.
While they wait to buy a house - reportedly in Herne Hill, south London - they are being generously helped by Lord and Lady Bamford.
The Tory mega-donors behind the JCB and Daylesford Organic brands are worth more than £4billion and paid £23,853 for the Johnsons’ wedding.
Since the start of September they have provided accommodation for the ex-Prime Minister’s family at an estimated value of £13,500 in six weeks.
According to the Mail on Sunday, they are living on the Bamford family’s 3,500-acre Daylesford Estate in the Cotswolds.
