As Liz Truss announces her resignation, everyone is now wondering who the next prime minister will be. There’s already talk that Rishi Sunak and Penny Mourdant will restart their leadership campaigns from the Tory contest over the summer, throwing their hat in the ring for the week-long competition that will see Tory party members vote by online ballot.
But there’s one other option that you would simultaneously never expect, and yet entirely believe when read: Boris Johnson is tipped to return. ‘I'm told that Boris Johnson is expected to stand in the Tory leadership contest,’ Steven Swinford, political editor for The Times tweeted as an exclusive. ‘He's taking soundings but is said to believe it is a matter of national interest.’
Now, it’s all anyone is Googling. ‘Will Boris Johnson come back as PM?’ is a breakout search term on Google, as well as ‘Was Boris Johnson elected by the public?’, ‘Boris Johnson return’ and ‘Boris Johnson next prime minister odds.’ Some are even searching for ‘Boris to stand’ and ‘Boris for PM’. For your information, Boris was elected by the public in the 2019 general election - ousted by his party in July 2022 but served in office until September.
But the question is less, ‘Will Boris Johnson come back as PM?’ and more… can he? Surely there are rules around a prime minister who was forced to resign, after numerous scandals despite winning his 2022 vote of no confidence, coming back mere months later.
Can Boris Johnson come back as prime minister?
One might expect so, but in actual fact, there’s no rules on that at all – so as an MP he very well could throw his hat in the ring.
There’s precedent too, although not in exactly the same context. Sir Winston Churchill served two terms in office - after being ousted in 1945 during a general election, he returned in 1951. Labour’s Harold Wilson also served two terms as PM, ousted from office during the 1970 general election that saw the Tories take power, only to return after another general election in 1974. And former Conservative PM Stanley Baldwin served three terms, the first between 1923 and 1924 and the last from 1935 until 1937.
Will Boris Johnson come back as prime minister?
All eyes are on Boris then for confirmation of whether he will run in the Tory leadership contest, the former prime minister is currently in the Caribbean – so we’ll probably have to wait till he finishes his Pina Colada before we get a straight answer.