Boris Johnson should “come back” to join the Tory election battle against Labour, a Government minister urged on Friday.
Science minister Andrew Griffith reached out to the ex-PM to boost the Conservatives in getting their messages across to voters.
“Come back anybody who has got a strong voice who can call out the danger of Keir Starmer,” he told LBC Radio, as the Tories lag about 20 points behind Labour in the polls.
Surveys suggest that around two thirds of the country believe it is time for a change of Government, after 14 years of the Tories being in power, which experts say is a difficult position to turn around for Rishi Sunak.
Mr Johnson is widely seen at Westminster as a formidable campaigner, having led the Brexit campaign ahead of the 2016 referendum.
But he was forced out as Prime Minister and of Parliament amid the “partygate scandal,” and misleading the Commons over the gatherings in No10 while millions of people across Britain were following very restrictive Covid rules.
Mr Griffith, who worked closely with Mr Johnson in No10, told LBC Radio: “The Conservative government needs strong Conservative voices.
“We have got a brilliant one in the Prime Minister but politics is a team game.
“My background was in business and you only get results by working together as a team.”
He argued that the country was facing “real jeopardy” with the possibility of a Labour government, though the polls putting Sir Keir Starmer’s party far ahead of the Tories suggest many voters do not share this view.
Pressed again about Mr Johnson, he said: “Well Boris is a great voice.
“I hope we have got many great voices and we desperately need to get the message out that it’s not a good time to go back to square one.
“We have taken a lot of tough decisions over the last 18 months. I know that has been very hard for people. It comes on the back of Covid and the war in Ukraine.
“So come back anybody who has got a strong voice who can call out the danger of Keir Starmer.”
Mr Sunak has said he still speaks to Mr Johnson “on occasion” despite the fallout that followed his resignation as Chancellor under his predecessor-but-one’s premiership.
The Prime Minister said he was “proud of the work we did together” before he became one of the first in a series of ministerial departures which ended in the former Tory leader’s downfall.
Mr Sunak has also not ruled out bringing the former PM back into the fold as he did with David Cameron, saying only that he would “never talk about these personnel things”.
Asked in an interview with ITV whether he misses Mr Johnson, he said: “I’m proud of the work that we did together. And we worked well together for a long time. In the end there are, you know, well-documented differences”.
On whether he would consider offering a Cabinet position to the ex-MP, who quit the Commons last year after a parliamentary committee found he had lied to the House over partygate, Mr Sunak said: “Well, I never talk about these personnel things, but look, I, you know, I speak to him on an occasion.”
The last time the pair spoke was “late last year”, he suggested.
However, Mr Sunak insisted he has a “completely new team” in which “people are held accountable.”
“I make sure that everyone is honest about what’s going on. It’s very transparent,” he said.
The Prime Minister served as chancellor in Mr Johnson’s government for two years before resigning along with then-health secretary Sajid Javid in July 2022, triggering a mass exodus of MPs from government and party roles.
A rivalry between Mr Sunak and his former boss then emerged as he embarked on a campaign for Mr Johnson’s job, with both vying to take back control of the Tory Party following Liz Truss’ short-lived tenure as PM.
