Within hours of finishing his testimony to the Covid inquiry last week, Boris Johnson and his wife, Carrie, marked the end of a gruelling couple of days over oysters at an exclusive restaurant in central London.
According to friends, Johnson is enjoying the freedoms and – perhaps more significantly – the riches of life outside parliament. Like his hero Winston Churchill, who found himself out of office following Clement Attlee’s unexpected 1945 election victory, he is concentrating on public speaking, for which he has already earned millions.
His allies deny that he has any plans to return to the political fray any time soon, insisting that he is busy writing his memoirs of his time in Downing Street and enjoys picking and choosing which causes he gets involved in, with much of his focus on Ukraine.
“Why would he want to come back now?” one asked. “Even if he could plot a path back to parliament without being blocked by the Conservative establishment, the party is in such doldrums, I’m not sure even Boris could turn it around.”
However, in recent days the “Bring back Boris!” call has come out once again from some Tory MPs. According to reports, ministers are among more than a dozen “red wall” MPs who have privately admitted to colleagues that they regret ousting him as leader.
Yet even senior figures on the right of the party believe any attempt to get Johnson back into parliament, with all that that implies, would be electoral suicide. “The public do not have the appetite for yet another leadership contest,” said one former cabinet minister.
Tory MPs point to a small number of their colleagues – just over a dozen at most – who genuinely think that the return of Johnson could be the answer to the party’s electoral problems. Some won seats in 2019 that had never been held by a Conservative before, but which they would now struggle to hold. Others are die-hard rightwing populists.
One Tory MP from the moderate One Nation wing of the party predicted that Johnson would never return to Westminster, though others suggested that view was held more in hope than expectation, as questions remain over his long-term plans.
“He loves his life now. He’s earning loads of money and he can throw grenades from the sidelines through his Daily Mail column,” one said. “If you’ve seen Carrie’s Instagram with the big house, the holidays and the children, you’ll know she’s never going to let him.”
Senior Tories are dismissive of suggestions that Johnson could return at a byelection, insisting that Conservative HQ would block any attempt. They also reject the idea that an ally, like Priti Patel, could be installed as a caretaker leader while Johnson stands for a safe seat at the election then steps back into No 10.
Speculation over Johnson returning to power on a double ticket with Nigel Farage, who suggested on Monday he might be interested in a comeback of his own after his appearance on I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!, have been met with outright scorn.
Tory MPs described colleagues hoping for such outcomes – which would first require Sunak losing a confidence vote – as “desperate”. One added: “They never wanted Boris to leave in the first place. But the whole thing is spiralling out of control. We’ve already opened the whisky bottle and the paracetamol is sitting just next to it.”
A spokesman for Johnson would not be drawn on his political ambitions, and denied the existence of any plans to team up with Farage. “Boris Johnson is currently writing a book and is supporting the government,” he said.
However, what none of Johnson’s friends have denied is the prospect of a political comeback further down the line. “He still thinks he was ousted unfairly and there’s unfinished business,” one said. “He won’t do it now, but never say never.”
