Boris Johnson faces being booted out of No10 by Christmas as he bids to make a shock return as PM, the Tories have been warned.
The disgraced ex-leader is flying back from his sun lounger in the Caribbean, threatening to launch an extraordinary new bid for power just weeks after he was forced from office.
A friend of Boris Johnson told the Mirror on Friday night: “He’s Whatsapping MPs saying ‘I’m flying back, we’re going to do this, I’m up for it.’”
He was later spotted on a flight from the Dominican Republic - where he was reportedly booed while settling in for the long-haul trip in a suit.
Mr Johnson had about half the 100 backers he needed by Saturday morning, while Rishi Sunak had crossed the threshold already.
With rumours of a pact to keep one of the two men off the ballot, Mr Johnson's critics were doubtful he would make the threshold. "There's a ceiling", said one - after scores of MPs demanded he quit just months ago.
A friend said the ex-PM’s chances rested on what right-wingers like Suella Braverman decide to do.
They claimed: “He’s going to get to 100. The issue will be who the right falls behind. It feels like they are not going to get to 100. If not, a lot of the right-wing vote will end up going to Boris.”
But Boris Johnson’s former loyal ally Dominic Raab - who is now backing Rishi Sunak - lobbed a hand grenade into the ex-PM’s chances.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme "I think he can make a return to frontline politics" - but not while he faces hearings about whether he lied to Parliament.
“I just can't see in practice how a new prime minister could give the country the attention, the focus that it needs” during the Privileges Committee probe, Dominic Raab said.
"I don't see how you can reconcile returning to frontline politics with that committee looming and hanging over" him.
Mr Raab added: "We can't have another episode of the Groundhog Day, of the soap opera, the party game. We must get the country and the government moving forward."
Mr Raab did not rule out a discussion between Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson in a bid to unite - possibly behind one candidate.
He said: "I don't know. I don't think there's been one yet. Rishi is talking to people from across the party and I'm sure he's open to doing so."
But he added the Privileges Committee is a "fundamental hurdle" - and it’s understood no talks were planned between the two men as of this morning.
Tory ex-Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind warned a Johnson return would be “utterly indefensible” as “he showed no interest, never mind leadership on economic policy”.
Any comeback attempt threatens to rip apart the Tories as his supporters claim he can stop the party being obliterated at the next election, while his critics threaten to quit in protest.
Penny Mordaunt became the first candidate to throw her hat into the ring in the race to succeed Liz Truss, with Rishi Sunak expected to announce he is running within hours.
Yesterday there was a growing backlash over the Tory attempt to pick a new PM without giving the public a say. More than 76,000 people have signed a Mirror petition demanding a general election now.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves argued the keys to No10 should not be handed around in a game of “pass-the-parcel”, as she insisted only a Labour government can “provide the country with the leadership and stability that we desperately need”.
Senior Tory figures warned the party’s civil war will turn “nuclear” if Mr Johnson makes a comeback. An ex-Cabinet minister told the Mirror: “We need to end the drama and sort out this mess.
“If Boris wins, MPs will go from having playground fights to full-on nuclear war.”
Supporters of his rival leadership candidates are warning MPs the looming Commons probe into whether Mr Johnson misled Parliament could see him ousted before the end of this year.
If he is found guilty, he could be suspended, potentially triggering a by-election in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency.
One Tory MP said: “What are we going to do if he gets kicked out for lying over Partygate? Just pick another leader and carry on? It’s insane.”
More than half of Britons (52%) would be unhappy to see Mr Johnson return to the role of PM, a poll found today.
The YouGov survey of 3,429 adults showed seven in ten (71%) voter believe he knowingly lied about breaking lockdown rules Mr Johnson yesterday won the backing of Defence Secretary Ben Wallace,
Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg, Levelling-Up Secretary Simon Clarke and Cop President Alok Sharma. In an extraordinary twist, some MPs who resigned their posts earlier this year because of concerns about Mr Johnson’s premiership also announced they were backing him.
Just over three months ago, Caroline Johnson quit as vice chair of the Conservative Party because “the cumulative effect” of his “errors of judgement and domestic actions” had “squandered the goodwill of our great Party”, but yesterday she announced she was supporting his leadership bid.
In a boost to Mr Sunak’s campaign, he was endorsed by former Cabinet minister Sajid Javid and ex-veterans minister Johnny Mercer.
Mr Mercer told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme: “ Boris Johnson is a friend of mine. I love him to bits, he is a great guy, but I just don’t think I cannot put myself through that again.
“I don’t think I can ask my constituents to. He has got amazing qualities, but it is now time for serious, competent government. The country is in a dire situation.”
Fellow Tory Simon Hoare warned that Mr Johnson “simply has too much baggage and ‘history’ to ever allow the country, government and party to move on and look forward”. “He made too many mistakes. We need a new, fresh chapter,” Mr Hoare added.
Foreign Office minister Jesse Norman said: “Choosing Boris would be an absolutely catastrophic decision.”
Ms Mordaunt today officially announced her campaign with a pledge to re-unite the bitterly divided Tory Party.
The Commons Leader - who finished third in the leadership election this summer - said she had been encouraged by the support she had received from fellow Conservative MPs.
“I’m running to be the leader of the Conservative Party and your Prime Minister - to unite our country, deliver our pledges and win the next GE (general election),” she wrote on Twitter.
Her announcement came after she held talks with Jeremy Hunt to assure him he would keep his job as Chancellor and deliver the Halloween Budget as planned if she wins.
The leadership candidates have until 2pm on Monday to get the backing of 100 MPs to remain in the contest. Mr Sunak is closing in on the figure, while Ms Mordaunt appeared to be struggling to pick up enough support.
William Hague today said the return of Mr Johnson as PM would plunge the Tories into a “death spiral”.
“I think it’s possibly the worst idea I’ve heard of in the 46 years, I’ve been a member of the Conservative Party,” the former leader told Times Radio,
“Boris Johnson was unable to run the government in the right way, to keep it together in the right way, to uphold the high standards of conduct that are necessary in the highest offices in the land.”
Mr Johnson today told his closest supporters he is “up for it”.
Tory MP James Duddridge, who used to be his ministerial bag carrier, said the former PM had told him in a phone call: “I’m going to do it.”
Mr Johnson will arrive back in Britain on Saturday.
