can Boris Johnson really return to power?

First modification: 10/22/2022 – 00:55

Some support him, others are ready to resign if he returns to Downing Street. In a new twist, Boris Johnson seeks on Friday, October 21, the necessary sponsorship to try to return to being the head of the British Government.

On vacation in the Caribbean, he is not yet a candidate, nor is Rishi Sunak, the former economy minister with whom he is at odds. But the two men seem to be the best placed in these quick elections, internal to the Conservative Party, which must deliver a new prime minister in a maximum of one week, after the resignation of Liz Truss, the leader who lasted 44 days.

While the country yearns for stability after months of a terrible political soap opera with dissension, betrayal and incompetence, Boris Johnson, 58, the controversial ‘ex-hero’ of Brexit who resigned three and a half months ago unauthorized after a series of scandals, would be preparing her return.

“Boris Johnson tells the ‘Tories’: ‘I can save the party from political annihilation'”, headlined the conservative newspaper ‘The Daily Telegraph’. “Boris against Rishi”, the fight for the soul of the ‘Tories'”, wrote the ‘Daily Mail’, a newspaper more inclined to Johnson.

An unofficial count by the ‘Guido’ website at noon showed 58 MPs for Rishi Sunak, 54 for Boris Johnson and 20 for Penny Mordaunt, Minister for Relations with Parliament. 100 sponsors are needed before 2:00 p.m. on Monday to be able to present themselves, among the 357 conservative deputies.

complicated weekend

Behind-the-scenes negotiations are going well. Apparently, Boris Johnson is preparing his return to London and the weekend promises to be bloody. Because Boris Johnson is deeply divisive.

For his supporters, he is the only legitimate one, having offered a historic majority to the Conservatives in the 2019 legislative elections. A great speaker, he has also maintained his aura with thousands of party members, who may have to vote next week.

“Boris or bust,” Energy Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg said on Friday. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, who is popular with the rank and file, also said he was “leaning” on Boris, in this increasingly Shakespearean drama.

But many ‘Tory’ deputies remember the Downing Street parties during the anti-Covid bull runs, their repeated lies and lack of discipline, which undermined the confidence of citizens and caused dozens of resignations in the Government and their own, on 7 of July.

“He is currently the subject of an investigation by a parliamentary committee…it is almost 100% certain that the Privileges Committee will agree that he misled Parliament,” Conservative MP Richard Graham told Times Radio. This return would send his party “straight into the mess we were in when he was in power,” another deputy commented.

“Boris Johnson is the British Berlusconi”

“Winning the support of the deputies is far from being a fact, but if he succeeds he will almost certainly be prime minister,” according to the newspaper ‘The Times’.

The rank and file of the party have remained largely loyal to Boris Johnson. According to a ‘YouGov’ poll, 42% of party members believe he can be a “very good” replacement for Liz Truss, and 21% a “fairly good” replacement. Rishi Sunak, who lost to Liz Truss in the summer and is sometimes seen as the traitor who got Boris Johnson fired, is between 29% and 31% and Penny Mordaunt is between 20% and 34%.

Against the backdrop of the economic and social crisis, the Labor opposition, which has a large lead in the polls, is calling for an early general election. The centrist Liberal Democrats (“lib-dems”) want to block Boris Johnson’s candidacy, pointing out that he has been found guilty of breaking the law during partygate.

“Boris Johnson is the Berlusconi of the UK,” said Daisy Cooper, deputy chairwoman of the Liberal Democrat Party.

“Goodbye”, this is how Boris Johnson concluded his last question time in Parliament last July. “Mission largely accomplished, for the time being,” he added.

He probably dreams of following in the footsteps of his hero, Winston Churchill, who returned to power in 1939. But Churchill waited ten years, not six weeks.

with AFP