At the inaugural conference of a group promising to restore grassroots control to the Conservatives and ensure that the party’s MPs can never again impose their own leader, one pivotal figure is notable by his absence: Boris Johnson.
The Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO), which is gathering in Bournemouth on Saturday, insists it is not a Johnson-revivalist group, and that its only purpose is to make the party more accountable to the rank and file.
For all that, it is notable that almost every speaker lined up – among them Priti Patel, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nadine Dorries – is a noted Johnson supporter. The CDO itself emerged from anger at the way the former prime minister was removed by Tory MPs.
While Johnson is reported to have signed bottles of wine for a charity auction, he will not attend, despite the organisers’ tantalising promise of “very special guests”.
Some allies suggest Johnson still harbours eventual hope of a comeback. Earlier this week, he was spotted holding private talks with his successor, Liz Truss, at 5 Hertford Street, an exclusive private members’ club in Mayfair.
However, he appears very busy with life well beyond Westminster, earning millions on the international speaking circuit and focusing on his growing family, who moved this week into their new £4m, nine-bedroom, Grade II-listed home with a moat in Oxfordshire, according to friends.
Locals described how the Johnsons were met with a 90-minute practice session for church bellringers on their first evening. “I hope he did not misinterpret it as a resounding welcome,” one new neighbour said.
David Campbell Bannerman, the former MEP who launched the CDO in December alongside Peter Cruddas, the banker and Conservative peer, says the conference will, among other tasks, finalise a list of demands to the party including a grassroots-elected chair.
Many Tory members felt they had been gradually shut out on everything from candidate selections to policy, Campbell Bannerman told the Guardian.
“What we rail against at the CDO is the contempt shown for the members. They’re not stupid. They are good people whose voice should be listened to,” he said.
“A lot of members feel that all they seem to be good for at the moment is leaflets and fundraising. A lot of them are very active people – they’ve got other things they could be doing.”
While the CDO remains relatively small and thus far the preserve of a particular cohort of Johnson-sympathising MPs and members, Conservative Central Office is sufficiently wary that it is sending Paul Holmes, the Eastleigh MP and a party vice-chair, to represent it in Bournemouth.
Senior Tory insiders, already concerned at what they see as a party within a party, were alarmed when it emerged in March that Arron Banks, the former Ukip donor, had held discussions with Cruddas about the CDO’s work.
Banks told friends he was “helping” Johnson with a potential comeback by using his database to “reach out” to local Conservative associations, sources have told the Guardian. Banks has been contacted for comment.
The chances of such a comeback ever happening, least of all before an election, feel slim, with even Johnson-backing Tory MPs resigned to colleagues sticking with Sunak. One former cabinet minister said: “We can potentially deny Labour a majority, but I can’t really see a path to winning. Rishi’s supporters are living in fantasy land if they think we can. Whether they like it or not, they had a person who won a huge election victory, and they got rid of him.”
However, they admitted that it was “hard to see” how Johnson could return to the political frontline before the next election, and he was unlikely to relish doing so in opposition.
“But he’s probably the only chance we’ve got. He’s still hugely popular among Tory members and they’re probably a bit more in touch with the general public than some of my colleagues at Westminster,” they added.
While Campbell Bannerman insisted that the conference, which will be followed by a dinner and dancing, was not intended to reinstall Johnson, it is very much aimed at highlighting disquiet about how Sunak became prime minister.
“I think what a lot of members think – and a lot of the public – is, who is this guy, who elected him?” he said.
“It’s not an anti-Rishi point. It’s about, how has this happened? When the going gets tough, as it is at the moment, he has shallow roots because he’s been anointed, not elected. And that’s a problem for Rishi.”
