Why Tories must turn the page on Boris Johnson and stop hankering for his return - Andrew Vine

Incredible though it may seem to voters who were glad to see the back of Mr Johnson last year in the face of a massive revolt within Tory ranks over law-breaking and lies, there are those who want him back.

At the weekend, I was talking to a couple of Yorkshire party members, who despite being decent and sensible people with serious reservations about Mr Johnson’s character and fitness for office, would rather like to see him return.

Their reasoning is that he is the only leader with broad enough voter appeal to give the Conservatives a chance of avoiding defeat at the next election.

Even last week’s allegation that in the midst of Covid lockdown, Mr Johnson quipped that a leaving party at 10 Downing Street would be the “most un-socially distanced party in the UK right now” hasn’t put them off.

They like Mr Sunak, believing him to be principled and committed to solving the country’s problems, but simply don’t think he has the wow factor with voters that Mr Johnson has.

And they appear to be far from alone in hankering for the return of the man who bade farewell to the premiership with a self-regarding and graceless resignation speech in which his refusal to be consigned to history was clear.

A new grassroots grouping within Tory ranks, the Conservative Democratic Organisation, is pressing for party members to have a greater say in who is leader and the undoubted object of its greatest affection is Mr Johnson.

Add to that a never-ending series of statements from MPs that they believe Mr Johnson will one day make a comeback, and it all amounts to a real headache for Mr Sunak.

It was notable that last week he felt the need to refute a suggestion that Mr Johnson could move from his Uxbridge constituency – at risk of falling to Labour – to a safer seat in order to maximise his chances of remaining an MP after the next election.

This was all part of the background noise around Mr Johnson, whose devotees are determined to keep him in the forefront of politics.

Hardly a week goes by without supporters briefing on the possible timing of a comeback, the latest theory being that if May’s local elections go badly for the Conservatives, Mr Sunak could face a challenge from within his ranks, opening the door for his former boss to ride to the rescue.

Meanwhile, Mr Johnson is canny enough to let others do the talking for him, not exactly keeping a low profile, but remaining quiet publicly whilst wooing the faithful at speaking engagements.

It really is time for Conservatives to come to their senses about the former Prime Minister and acknowledge what millions of voters surely believe – that Mr Johnson had his chance and blew it spectacularly.

A man who won an unassailable majority and came to power on a wave of public goodwill squandered both because of his flouting of Covid rules observed by the rest of the country and his aversion to telling the truth.

He may yet face a reckoning over misleading Parliament about illegal lockdown parties in Downing Street that could cost him his seat as an MP.

Even if it doesn’t, he is tainted in the eyes of the public who knew perfectly well he partied whilst they were separated from loved ones.

It is unthinkable that the voters of Yorkshire’s red wall seats would give him a second chance if he somehow managed to regain the Conservative leadership.

Far from being the electoral asset he once was, he would be the greatest gift Labour could wish for in a general election campaign.

Conservative members like those I know dreaming that Mr Johnson’s return will somehow transform their party’s fortunes are living in cloud cuckoo land. So are the MPs agitating behind Mr Sunak’s back.

Instead of hankering after a second act from a politician whose approval ratings amongst the public demonstrated that he was reviled, the party over which he still exerts such a grip should have the courage to repudiate him and all he stood for.