Boris Johnson threatened a comeback just minutes after quitting as an MP - and won’t rule out standing in Nadine Dorries’ seat.
The disgraced former Prime Minister issued a lengthy statement tonight announcing he was resigning as Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP to avoid being ousted over Partygate - and triggering an immediate by-election.
He blamed his exit on a draft “kangaroo court” privileges committee report, which is thought to have found he lied to Parliament.
And he dismissed the committee - in particular chair Harriet Harman - as “biased”.
But of his departure, Mr Johnson only said he was leaving Parliament “for now” - and did not rule out returning.
Hours earlier, ally Nadine Dorries quit her Mid Bedfordshire seat, forcing a by-election.
And Mr Johnson’s spokesman declined to comment on the suggestion he would stand in Ms Dorries former seat.
In a tweet announcing her decision, she initially wrote that it was time for “someone younger” to take the reins in the seat.
This was later edited to remove the reference to a younger person.
Mr Johnson is eight years younger than Nadine Dorries.
Tory MP Sir James Duddridge, who served as Mr Johnson’s parliamentary bag carrier, insisted it was not the end of his political career.
He tweeted: “History will recognise the great work Boris did on Brexit, Ukraine and Covid. He is a titan amongst minnows.
“This is the conclusion of a chapter not the end of the book. We will hear more about Boris over the coming days, months and years.”
Conor Burns, another Tory MP close to Mr Johnson, suggested his resignation would not be “the end”.
He tweeted: “On this day in 1983 Mrs Thatcher won a landslide majority. Today the only Conservative leader to do likewise leaves Parliament.
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“Boris stood up for the people against the Remain establishment and delivered Brexit. He was a significant PM. I fancy this isn’t the end. Good luck boss.”
Mr Johnson infamously signed off his final speech in the commons with the words "hasta la vista, baby."
The former PM is reportedly in Africa, and did not warn party whips of his decision to step down.
But he found time to write the long statement, which was also published in the Spectator, the magazine Mr Johnson previously edited.
“Our party needs urgently to recapture its sense of momentum and its belief in what this country can do,” Mr Johnson wrote, in a not-at-all veiled swipe at Rishi Sunak.
“The Conservative Party has the time to recover its mojo and its ambition and to win the next election.”
He added: “It is very sad to be leaving parliament – at least for now – but above all I am bewildered and appalled that I can be forced out, anti-democratically, by a committee chaired and managed, by Harriet Harman, with such egregious bias.”
