‘You by no means know with Boris’ – former press chief says Tories ‘hooked on killing one another’ so Johnson might return

Boris Johnson might try a political comeback after the following election if the Tories carry out badly on the poll field, his former head of communications has claimed.

Speaking to Sky News, Guto Harri stated the Conservative Party could be “insane” to oust one other chief now and that Rishi Sunak was “the only game in town”.

But requested if his previous boss might make a play for the management once more, he replied: “You never know with Boris.”

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Mr Johnson grew to become Tory chief – and prime minister – in 2019 after profitable the backing of his social gathering, and went on to get a big majority on the subsequent basic election, promising to “get Brexit done”.

However, controversies over lockdown events held in Downing Street throughout the pandemic, and his dealing with of significant allegations in opposition to his deputy chief whip Chris Pincher, led to his downfall and his eventual exit come the summer season of 2022.

The former PM had thought-about making one other run for the management after the brief and disastrous tenure of Liz Truss, with many MPs nonetheless backing him, however he determined in opposition to it on the final minute, permitting Mr Sunak to take the keys to Number 10.

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Asked concerning the prospect of Mr Johnson’s return, Mr Harri stated the previous chief was “putting hay in the loft” and “enjoying what other people with his kind of educational background do, which is make a lot of money”.

He added: “I actually think that the party would be insane now to topple yet another leader. If four leaders in four years isn’t enough, I don’t know what is.

“And the one sport on the town for the social gathering, except it is to commit, you understand, type of mass suicide basically, is to again Rishi Sunak, nonetheless they really feel about him, nonetheless they really feel about his position within the toppling of Boris.

“In the end, we have a very capable, very intelligent, very modern, dynamic sort of prime minister and they’ve got to back him.”

But Mr Harri stated it could possibly be a unique story after the election, which is predicted to occur subsequent 12 months.

“You never know with Boris,” he added. “You’ve got to compare him with historical figures like Lloyd George, who came back, and Churchill, who came back, and he himself left us all guessing when he said, ‘hasta la vista baby’.”

The prime press chief stated it was “all to play for” if the social gathering united behind its chief on the subsequent election, earlier than including: “One of the memorable phrases Boris uses is the party is like the Aztecs, you know, addicted to killing each other.

“Hopefully that type of interval within the social gathering’s historical past is behind it for the sake of whoever is [at] the reins at no matter level sooner or later.”

A source close to Mr Johnson said the former prime minister “doesn’t recognise the accounts on this podcast” and “has had no half on this podcast or in its contents”.

They added: “We would by no means touch upon these issues and Mr Johnson deplores any try to take action.”