Boris Johnson ponders No 10 comeback following Liz Truss’s exit
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Half of Conservative voters think the Tories made a mistake by ditching Boris Johnson earlier this year. New polling by TechneUK for Express.co.uk shows 49 percent of those who backed the party at the last general election believe MPs were wrong to oust their former leader.
The findings come as Mr Johnson prepares to stage a sensational comeback.
The ex-Prime Minister is flying back from his holiday in the Caribbean in order to launch his campaign to replace Liz Truss.
Just seven weeks after departing No10, a significant number of Conservative MPs have gone public in calling for Mr Johnson’s return.
Rishi Sunak is thought to have lost the last leadership election to Liz Truss in part because he was blamed for stabbing his old boss in the back when he resigned on July 5.
However, while a significant proportion of Tory voters believe it was wrong to get rid of Mr Johnson in the summer, the feelings are not shared across the public as a whole.
Less than a third, 29 percent, of UK adults think Tory MPs were wrong to change leader.
Meanwhile, 57 percent of Britons said they were right to oust Mr Johnson, with 14 percent unsure.
Critics of Mr Johnson within the Tory parliamentary party have warned it would be a mistake to re-appoint him as leader.
Basildon and Billericay MP John Baron said: “I would find it impossible to serve under Boris.”
Meanwhile, former party chair David Davis told LBC radio that Mr Johnson should “go back to the beach, frankly”.
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However, there is a growing coalition of Conservative heavyweights who have vowed to back the former Prime Minister, before he’s even announced his intentions to run.
On Friday Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said he was “leaning towards” backing his former boss.
He said: “This will be potentially our third prime minister since the general election of 2019.
“That means we have to think about that legitimacy question that the public will be asking themselves, and also about who could win the next election.
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“That’s obviously important for any political party at the time.”
Levelling Up Secretary Simon Clarke and Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg also went public in their support for him.
And Cop26 president Alok Sharma tweeted: “I am backing Boris Johnson – he won a mandate from the electorate in 2019.
“We need to get back to delivering on the Conservatives’ manifesto we were elected on.”
A new Conservative leader is set to be in place by next Friday.
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