Boris Johnson keeps dream of riding to the Tories’ rescue alive

Boris Johnson pulled out of the leadership contest on Sunday night but said he could come back to lead the Conservatives into the next general election.

Boris Johnson on Saturday. Picture: Reuters

Former British prime minister Boris Johnson pulled out of the leadership contest on Sunday night but said he could come back to lead the Conservatives into the next general election.

He claimed to have won the backing of 102 MPs, which would be enough support to enter the contest formally on Monday, and added that he was “uniquely placed to avert a general election now” because of his landslide victory in 2019.

Mr Johnson said he believed he would have won the contest had he decided to enter, by winning the poll of Conservative Party members. However, the former prime minister said he had concluded that it was “simply not the right time” for him to return to Number 10 because he would not be able to unify the party.

In the same statement, he said that he would be available if the party wanted him to lead it into the next election, writing: “I believe I am well placed to deliver a Conservative victory in 2024.”

He added: “But in the course of the last days I have sadly come to the conclusion that this would simply not be the right thing to do. You can’t govern effectively unless you have a united party in parliament.

“And though I have reached out to both Rishi (Sunak) and Penny (Mordaunt) – because I hoped that we could come together in the national interest – we have sadly not been able to work out a way of doing this.

“Therefore, I am afraid the best thing is that I do not allow my nomination to go forward and commit my support to whoever succeeds. I believe I have much to offer but I am afraid that this is simply not the right time.”

One of the moments that led Johnson to conclude that he could not unite the party came when he failed to win over right-wing colleagues including Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, and Steve Baker, both former leaders of the European Research Group of Tory MPs. They endorsed Mr Sunak and delivered extraordinary broadsides against Mr Johnson. Ms Braverman said it would be “naive” to put him back in No 10 and that the party “cannot indulge in parochial or nativist fantasies”. Mr Baker predicted that Johnson would be a “guaranteed disaster” because of the inquiry into whether he had misled parliament over lockdown parties, which could lead to Johnson facing a by-election.

Mr Johnson ruled himself out just three hours after one of his campaign coordinators messaged supporters announcing the “very good news” that he had secured the 100 names necessary to enter the race.

However, the announcement that Mr Johnson had reached the threshold of 100 backers was met with scepticism from both his opponents and some of his own supporters. By 8pm on Sunday, just 56 MPs had publicly declared their support for him, 44 short of the number needed to enter the ballot. An MP who had spoken with Mr Johnson over the past 24 hours said there was “no way Boris has the numbers”.

However, Johnson won the most support among serving cabinet ministers after winning the backing of Nadhim Zahawi, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary. Mr Cleverly said Johnson had “learnt the lessons from his time in No 10 and will ensure the focus is on the needs of the country from day one”. Zahawi was mocked for his decision to support Johnson, given that he was one of more than 60 ministers who called on Johnson to quit in July.

Mr Johnson started Sunday with a Zoom call with his supporters at 8am. Supporters said that he appeared to be “dressed for the job”, sitting in a suit against a backdrop of flags at his campaign base in Millbank Tower in Westminster. One expressed surprise that he had his shirt tucked in.

The Times