Boris Johnson refuses to rule out ‘Churchill-style’ comeback as Tory leadership hopeful opens door to ex-PM’s return

The former Prime Minister was also quizzed on his political ambitions for the future, with Johnson continuing to push the UK to maintain its support for Ukraine.

Johnson had hinted at launching a return on the day he delivered his resignation speech outside No10.

He said: “Like Cincinnatus, I am returning to my plough and I will be offering this Government nothing but the most fervent support.”

Johnson, once an Oxford University classics scholar, made the reference after some claimed Cincinnatus eventually returned to power a few decades later.

Responding to the reference yet again, Johnson told GB News: “Cincinnatus used to return - I’d basically had taken up my plough. I think that I'm living a very happy life of blameless, rustic obscurity.”

The former Prime Minister confirmed he is working on a number of projects, including his book on William Shakespeare.

When pushed on whether he was hoping to emulate Winston Churchill’s comeback, Johnson added: "As I used to say, and I repeat, the chances of my mounting a come back, getting back into into Number 10, are about as good as my chances of being reincarnated as an olive, or decapitated by a frisbee, or being locked in a disused fridge, or blinded by a champagne cork."

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Johnson used to make similar comments before he became Prime Minister.

Pushed again on the question, Johnson said: "I think it remains in that order of probability. I don't know what the odds are of being blinded by a champagne call or locked in a disused fridge, or decapitated by a frisbee.”

However, the 60-year-old was unable to categorically rule out mounting a comeback.

Johnson’s comments came just days after Robert Jenrick yet again left the door open to Johnson’s return.

Jenrick, who received the most votes from Tory MPs in the second ballot held last month, told GB News’ Christopher Hope: “The Conservative Party is in a hole right now.

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"We need to get all of our best players on the pitch now. People can do that in many different ways in Parliament, out of Parliament, campaigning, advertising.

"So if I was lucky enough to lead this party, Boris, Penny Mordaunt you name it, let's get the Conservative family back together. Let's get back in business again.”

Jenrick had previously hinted at giving Johnson a Cabinet role if he eventually became Prime Minister.

Other Conservatives also voiced regret about the decision taken to topple Johnson, with interim chairman Richard Fuller telling GB News: "Removing Boris Johnson, whatever one might have thought about what went on or didn't go on at the time, was a mistake."

During his sit-down interview with GB News, Johnson claimed he would have seen off Sir Keir Starmer on July 4.

“We would have gone on, I’m sure, to win the election,” the former Prime Minister said.

He added: "When I left office, when I resigned, we were a handful of points behind, right?

“I think in that week there was one poll that put us two points behind. I think you will agree that with the boundary changes and everything else it would have been possible for me to overcome a two point deficit in two and a half years.”

Johnson trailed Labour by just six-points in the Redfield & Wilton’s last opinion poll conducted ahead of his resignation announcement, with Tory support plummeting under both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

Reform UK’s support in the same poll stood at just five per cent, level with the Green Party and much lower than the 11 per cent obtained by the Liberal Democrats.

Discussing how he would have tackled Reform UK, Johnson claimed: “I think we would have continued to deliver on the levelling-up agenda.

“We ended up in 2024 basically, alternately, machine-gunning both halves of our coalition.”

Johnson’s 2019 coalition fragmented drastically by the time Britons went to the polls on July 4.

Around 25 per cent of 2019 Tory supporters voted for Reform UK, with 12 per cent backing Labour and seven per cent siding with the Liberal Democrats.

The same Redfield & Wilton survey from the summer of 2022 revealed 12 per cent were supporting Labour but just four per cent were backing Reform UK and three per cent were siding with the Liberal Democrats.

Johnson stepped down as the MP for Uxbridge & South Ruislip in 2023 as the privileges committee prepared to publish its damning report into partygate.

The Tories held onto the West London constituency off the back of anti-Ulez feeling directed towards Sadiq Khan.

However, Labour snatched Uxbridge & South Ruislip by 587 votes as Reform UK picked up 6,610 ballots.

Johnson won Uxbridge & South Ruislip by 7,210 votes in 2019, up by more than 2,000 ballots compared to 2017.

When asked if he was confident he would have retained the seat on July 4, Johnson said: “I think I would have won Uxbridge, all right.

“Why not? That was the position as I left it, right? I was not responsible for what then happened.”