Allies of Boris Johnson are not confident that the former UK prime minister and Conservative Party chief will be able to make a comeback, the Guardian said in a report.
The report also said that factions within the Tory party are more keen on supporting UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of the general election in the UK scheduled for early 2025.
His allies feel that his post-Brexit deal with the European Union may have led to the fall in his popularity even among his allies. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former Commons leader, urged fellow Tory MPs to “live with” Rishi Sunak and “calm down”.
Speaking to the UK’s ITV, Rees-Mogg said that it would not look mature for a party like the UK’s Conservative Party to keep changing the leader every now and then.
However, a section of his allies feel that Johnson could mount a fresh challenge if the Conservative Party fails to perform in the upcoming local elections.
People familiar with the developments have told the Guardian that there’s not a lot of fight left among Boris’ allies and they also lack coordination. The 100 MPs who backed Boris Johnson in October privately also said that the clamour for him to return was decreasing, according to the Guardian.
“We are getting close to the general election, it’s just around the corner. We’ve run out of time for Boris’s antics,” a senior leader told the Guardian.
Another MP told the Guardian that while some expected that Rishi Sunak and EU President Ursula von der Leyen’s Northern Ireland protocol talks would have harmed Sunak, the reality was different from those expectations.
The MP said Johnson may have been ‘humiliated’ by Sunak’s announcement. Boris Johnson supporters despite bragging about that any changes to his Northern Ireland protocol bill could bring 100 Tory MPs to rebel, the reality is that their leader himself has chosen to remain silent on the issue.
An expert told the Guardian that the Northern Ireland Protocol talks were a “significant event” that put Boris Johnson’s allies on the backfoot. However, some of his critics within the party say he still wields considerable influence among party workers.
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