Boris Johnson ‘comeback’ plot leaves Nigel Farage facing ‘huge threat’ as Tories hold ‘trump card’ to sink Reform UK

Boris Johnson’s rumoured comeback plot would leave Nigel Farage facing a “huge threat” as the Tory Party’s “trump card” risks sinking Reform UK, allies of the former Prime Minister have told GB News.

Johnson, who left No10 following a Cabinet cabal in the summer of 2022, is said to have “unfinished business” and is growing “bored” of life away from Westminster.

Current Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is struggling to get a foothold since succeeding Rishi Sunak in November, leaving Johnson’s ex-Chief of Staff Dominic Cummings to urge Tories to “shove [her] out”.

The rise of Reform UK is certainly sending shockwaves through Conservative circles, with Nigel Farage’s populist party soaring past 210,000 members and cementing top spot in the latest set of opinion polls.

A number of senior Reform UK figures have decided to take potshots at Johnson over his stint in No10 as rumours swirl around Westminster about a potential comeback.

Earlier this month, the populist party’s chairman Zia Yusuf blasted Johnson as “one of the most damaging Prime Ministers in this country’s history”.

During the 2024 General Election campaign, Farage also locked horns with Johnson over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

However, other figures – including Treasurer Nick Candy and ex-Education Minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns – count Johnson as a personal friend and longtime political ally.

And Johnson’s steadfast allies remain convinced that the former Prime Minister can pillage the populist party of up to two million votes.

A Johnson loyalist told GB News: “In private, the bigwigs in Reform understand and respect the threat from Boris.

“They are also completely aware that amongst their voter base and electorate, which is very broad, is a huge make-up of the 2019 Red Wall vote.

“Boris shares goodwill with that group and many never wanted him to leave and would welcome his potential comeback to the frontline of British politics.”

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Addressing Reform UK’s attacks against Johnson, the ex-No10 insider also claimed: “They sling a lot of mud at him but that’s almost a compliment because they see him still as a spectre over a core of the electorate and someone who can win round exactly the type of voters and person that they are – with Boris in the background – doing so well with.”

A second long-standing Johnson ally told the People’s Channel: “Without Boris in the mix, Farage makes most politicians look bland, shifty and pointless.

“Boris has more charisma, connection and vision than Farage, so – naturally – Reform would be horrified and rightly terrified if he was back in play.”

“MPs will have that Boris trump card in their back pocket and it could get more and more tempting,” another Johnson-supporting Tory argued.

Former Conservative MP Sir Michael Fabricant added: “Nigel Farage realises that much of Reform’s popularity stems from his own personal appeal.

“I suspect he fears a Boris comeback as he is one of the few Conservatives who attracts voters across the political spectrum.”

Despite campaigning on the same side in the 2016 Brexit referendum, Johnson and Farage have been at loggerheads for the best part of a decade.

There had been speculation earlier this month that the pair were looking to forge a right-wing “mega-party” to defeat Labour.

However, top Tory and senior Reform UK officials later dismissed the rumour, likening it to a dysfunctional marriage.

Farage stood aside 317 candidates to give Johnson’s Tories a free run in the 2019 General Election.

The now-Clacton MP, who shirked suffering his eighth personal parliamentary loss in 2019, claimed Johnson’s pals offered a deal that would have seen the Tories field paper candidates in the Brexit Party’s 40 target seats.

Denying the claim, Johnson said: “I didn’t do any deal.”

The decision to stand down hundreds of Brexit Party candidates helped propel the then-Prime Minister to a whopping 80-seat majority, consigning Labour to its worst defeat since 1935.

Despite Farage’s one-sided overture undeniably assisting Johnson on his path to victory, the Brexit Party saw its support collapse from 26 per cent against Theresa May to 13 per cent just weeks into a change of leader.

Johnson’s allies believe a similar situation could unfold if the former Uxbridge & South Ruislip MP returned from the wilderness.

“But a Boris comeback would be huge,” a Johnson loyalist told GB News. “The vacuum that is left with Starmer in power – for personality, being imaginative, passion, biting politics – has so far been filled by Farage.

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“If Boris came back, the space in that vacuum is valved, maybe even cut by 60 or 70 per cent and that makes him a huge threat.”

Johnson also believes that he would have fared better against Reform UK than Rishi Sunak managed in the 2024 General Election.

Speaking to the People’s Channel last year, the 60-year-old said: “I think we would [have won the General Election], I think we would have had a very good shot.

“We were only a handful of points behind in the polls, nothing like the huge gaps that opened up. And Reform was on zero.”

Top pollster YouGov placed the Tories three points behind Labour just days before Johnson’s resignation, with Richard Tice securing just three per cent for Reform UK.

Johnson held onto around 59 per cent of 2016 Brexit voters, a figure that fell from its 74 per cent high in 2019 but collapsed further as Sunak struggled to stave off the threat from Farage.

Sunak clung onto just 37 per cent of Brexiteers last summer, with Farage surging to 28 per cent.

YouGov now gives Reform UK an enormous 20-point advantage among Eurosceptics, securing around 50 per cent of all Leavers.

The Tories also lost a core chunk of Johnson’s 2019 coalition – 53 per cent still voted Tory but 25 per cent backed Reform UK and 22 per cent supported progressive parties.

Reform UK’s support last summer was largely dependent on 2019 Tories, with even more flocking to Farage in the populist party’s post-poll surge.

It would appear that some Reform UK insiders acknowledge that Farage dodged a bullet after Johnson was forced to stand down as the MP for Uxbridge & South Ruislip ahead of a damning report which concluded he had misled Parliament over Partygate.

“The Tories removed their biggest asset in Boris,” they admitted. “There are only two men in British politics who can appeal to so much of the electorate. We’ve still got Nigel and they binned Boris.”

Despite around eight-in-10 Reform UK voters backing Johnson’s Tories in 2019, pollsters have erred on the side of caution about the former Prime Minister’s ability to win back Farage fans.

YouGov’s senior research executive Beth Kuhnel Mann told the People’s Channel: “Our latest polling shows that Boris Johnson remains an unpopular figure amongst most, and a divisive figure amongst right-leaning voters.

“It is true that 49 per cent of Reform voters hold a favourable view of the former Conservative Prime Minister, but 46 per cent hold an unfavourable view.

“This means it could prove challenging for Johnson to pry Reform voters away from the party, especially given how popular their current leader Nigel Farage is among its voters.

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“An overwhelming 91 per cent of those who backed Reform UK in 2024 have a positive view of him, and 82 per cent say he would make a better Prime Minister than Johnson.”

Despite Johnson’s allies claiming Reform UK would fear the former Prime Minister returning to the frontline of British politics, a source closely connected to Farage dismissed the suggestion of any concern.

“Johnson betrayed Brexit and those voters who trusted him in 2019,” they said.

“As the architect of our current migration crisis, Johnson has simply no credibility on the biggest issue facing this country.

“His return would show the Tory Party is bereft of ideas after just a few months in opposition.

“He had his opportunity and he blew it; politics is over for him.”

And the appetite in the Tory tearooms remains committed to giving Badenoch a chance before turning towards the teflon ex-Prime Minister.

A top Tory told GB News that voters punished the Conservatives for “endless psycho-dramas” in 2024, adding: “For the time being and for the foreseeable future, it is right that Kemi is given the chance to lead the party.”

“We aren’t talking about that at all and I would say it’s unlikely to happen anyway,” a Conservative MP added.

The first step to transforming rumours of Johnson’s ambitions into a reality would require finding and winning a Westminster by-election.

The Tory Party has not claimed victory in a by-election since Ulez fury propelled Steve Tuckwell to cling onto Johnson’s former seat in 2023.

Richard Mills, who was chairman of Uxbridge & South Ruislip’s Tory association during Johnson’s time in the House of Commons, opened the door to his return.

However, with the West London seat now firmly held by Labour, allies will hope for a sympathetic Tory to step aside in a more politically palatable seat to trigger a by-election.

Johnson, who also represented Henley between 2001 and 2008 after his failed Clwyd South bid in 1997, could call on allies in the remaining rump of 121 Tory MPs to grant him the opportunity.

And eleven out of Johnson’s 65 public backers from his short-lived 2022 comeback plot remain in the House of Commons.

Despite speculation about a potential comeback, Johnson also appeared to distance himself from the recent rumours.

He said: “I’m working flat out writing some books and building a new kitchen.”

A Johnson ally also told GB News: “He will only come back if he thinks he can offer something to the Tory Party. It’s unlikely. He’s really enjoying life away from Westminster.”

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