London A few weeks after being forced to resign, Boris Johnson is returning to Britain as he considers making an outrageous bid for a second term as prime minister. Some colleagues have warned that his return could lead to further political turbulence.
Prime Minister Liz Truss quit suddenly on Thursday after only six weeks in office. Her possible replacements started a busy weekend of campaigning to get enough nominations to run for the leadership before the deadline on Monday.
Johnson, who was on vacation in the Caribbean when Truss announced his resignation and has not openly discussed running for his old position, has the support of numerous conservative lawmakers but still needs 100 nominations to be taken into consideration.
On Friday, James Duddridge, the commerce minister, stated In response to Johnson’s assurance that he is “up for it,” the former leader will depart for Britain on Saturday.
A Sky News reporter who was on board for the trip to Britain claims that Johnson received jeers from some passengers.
The former journalist, who left the government buried in scandal but complained that his colleagues “changed the rules halfway through” a contest—a jab at the Conservative MPs who did not allow him to serve a full term—would have an incredible political comeback.
Although Penny Mordaunt, a former defence minister, was the first to formally announce her desire to run for the position of Conservative Party leader, although Johnson and Rishi Sunak, a former finance minister, were leading contenders before voting took place the next week.
Many in the Conservative Party, which is bitterly split after losing four prime ministers in six years, find the idea of Johnson returning to power divisive.
Johnson is a vote-getter for some Conservative politicians because he can appeal to voters all over the country, both because of his fame and because of the way he talks about the world.
Others view Johnson negatively, so the question is whether he can persuade the several MPs who have turned on him that he is now the right candidate to bring the party together and revive its sagging popularity.
THE DEATH SPIRAL
According to former Conservative leader William Hague, Johnson’s return was possibly the worst notion he had heard in almost fifty years as a party member. He claimed it would result in the Conservatives’ going into a “death spiral.”
If he can garner the necessary number of nominations, Johnson is set to face off against Sunak, who resigned as his finance minister in July, saying that his former boss was unwilling to make difficult decisions.
According to media sources, Sunak is the first leadership candidate to receive 100 nominations to compete before the entry deadline on Monday. Currently, Johnson receives around half of that backing.
The Privileges Committee of Parliament is currently looking into Johnson to see if he lied to the House of Commons over lockdown-breaking parties. If it turns out that ministers lied to the legislature on purpose, they are likely to step down.
The race to become the fourth prime minister of Britain in four years has been sped up to last just one week. According to the rules, only three candidates will be allowed to make it to the parliamentarians’ first ballot on Monday afternoon. The party members will then vote on the last two candidates, and the results should be known by next Friday.
