Liz Truss has won the power struggle for the prime ministerial post. But the longing for a comeback by Boris Johnson is already growing among the Tory's party base. He could come back - like his great role model Winston Churchill.
Liz Truss moves into Downing Street today as Britain's new Prime Minister. But the shadow of the dazzling predecessor is not only over her - but also in front of her. Because Boris Johnson is flirting with a comeback and could eventually become his successor's successor.
The "Bring back Boris" movement has formed within the conservative party and is gaining a lot of support. A corresponding petition has already been signed by thousands of party members and the number is growing every day. The venerable daily newspaper "The Times" also publishes a survey of Tory voters under the catchy headline "Bring back Boris", according to which the outgoing prime minister remains by far the favourite. According to this, the outgoing prime minister gathers more fans behind him than Truss and the second successor candidate Rishi Sunak combined. Especially in the north of England, where the Conservatives were voted so clearly for the first time in 2019, Johnson is still met with great enthusiasm. A majority of Tories now think Johnson's resignation is wrong.
The whispers about a possible comeback fired Johnson himself with relish. He ended his last question time in the House of Commons with a grin with the words "Hasta la vista, baby". His answer to the question of whether he will ever return to office and what kind of MP he will be in the future can be read as a veiled threat to his successor: "Time will tell".
Meanwhile, twelve conservative members of parliament, who were dissatisfied with Liz Truss from the start, want to organize his political comeback in concrete terms. The calculus: Should Truss get into trouble, Johnson would be pulled out of the sleeve and brought back as a trump card for the upcoming election campaign. The "Bring back Boris" movement reflects the great approval - there was nothing like that after the departure of Theresa May or David Cameron. Johnson continues to inspire and fascinate millions of Britons.
A prominent Johnson acolyte, Lord Edward Lister, said on television that many MPs felt "remorse" about Johnson's departure and wanted him to make a comeback. They "overreacted" to the fall of the outgoing prime minister. Asked if Johnson might be tempted to make a comeback, Lord Lister said: "Well I would never say never to Boris Johnson, anything is possible in the future." Especially in the event that "the ball gets lost in the scrum".
Political opponents of Johnson also expect Johnson to attempt a comeback. There one refers to shady role models like Berlusconi or Trump. Rory Stewart, the former foreign aid secretary and harsh Johnson critic, who ran for party chairmanship himself in 2019, puts the word "Borisconi" into circulation. Stewart says Johnson has an "extraordinary ego" that believes he has been "mistreated" and would like to rectify it. Already in the bitter resignation speech at the beginning of July he intoned a legend of a stab in the back. Dominic Cummings, Johnson's former chief strategist and now archenemy, speculated on Twitter that the outgoing prime minister wanted to make the "human hand grenade" Truss his successor, only to return as the party's savior after her "blast".
Johnson's supporters are less reminiscent of figures like Berlusconi and Trump and more of legendary Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Johnson himself wrote a biography of Churchill and chose him as his role model. Churchill successfully led Britain through World War II. He was then forced to resign, but returned to 10 Downing Street from 1951 to 1955. This story is now particularly popular within the "Bring back Boris" movement.
The fact that Johnson's comeback - despite his Partygate scandals - is even conceivable is due to two circumstances. For one thing, Liz Truss doesn't spark any real enthusiasm in her own constituency. She tries to present herself as a reincarnation of Maggie Thatcher with transparently cheap attempts at imitation. Your inner-party election result of only 57 percent of the votes is an indication of weak support. If you make major mistakes in the volatile political situation, from fighting inflation to the war crisis, a Tory debate will quickly break out as to whether you really want to campaign with you in the next election.
The second factor that makes a Johnson comeback conceivable is Johnson's extraordinary popularity - for better or for worse. Johnson polarizes and animates at the same time. For millions of Britons, he is a kind of political rock star, a curly-haired nonconformist who is more forgiven for party scandals than normal professional politicians. In addition, Johnson is a media star and should soon unfold his own media spectacle. Johnson has been a columnist, author, TV host, documentary filmmaker and even editor of the political magazine Spectator. He should continue to make headlines as a columnist, TV commentator and speaker - if only to earn money. He has earned £275,000 a year from his weekly column in the Daily Telegraph alone. Johnson is also working on a biography of Shakespeare and is said to be in negotiations with publishers to publish notes from his tenure.
So he should - as he announced these days - first of all "make hay", because even the demure Theresa May has earned around 2.5 million pounds with public appearances since her resignation in mid-2019. Johnson has a much greater market value thanks to his qualities as an entertainer. PR expert Mark Borkowski speculates in the "Sunday Times" that Johnson could gain a foothold in the American entertainment industry thanks to his global reputation: "Boris is a brand, a celebrity, a performer. He would be suitable for a job on global TV -Channel." That should also inspire the comeback fantasy of his compatriots.
