‘Borismania’ is back: Was this the start of his comeback tour?

The pandemonium and chaos was just like the old days, when Boris Johnson used to upstage David Cameron and Theresa May at Tory conferences and was greeted like a rock star.

Now, as his adoring cheerleaders dream of his return as prime minister to save the Tories from general election defeat, “Borismania” is back after he embarked on what his supporters hope was the start of a comeback tour.

The occasion was a dinner in his honour at the Conservative Party’s holy of holies, the Carlton Club in central London, to mark the unveiling of a portrait of him, an accolade traditionally awarded to former prime ministers.

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But surely it was more than that? To his diehard loyalists it was the beginning of a campaign to reinstate him to his rightful place as party leader from which he was treacherously ousted – supporters claim – by Tory assassins including the current PM Rishi Sunak.

Those supporters hope the Carlton Club gig was just the beginning and that Mr Johnson, who the Sky News Westminster Accounts probe reveals has earned more than £1m since leaving Number 10, will hit the road and carry his comeback campaign all the way to this year’s party conference in Manchester.

By all accounts, Mr Johnson didn’t disappoint his fellow diners in a speech in which he gave typically upbeat and colourful assessment of the Tories’ prospects at the next election.

“When I talk to people in the Far East, in the US, in the Gulf, they are sometimes confused about the way in which the UK presents itself to the outside world because they look at the facts,” he said.

“They see a country that had the audacity to uphold the will of the people (to) come out of the EU.

“They see a Conservative government that was so dynamic and well organised that with the help of our Brexit freedoms – never forget that point – we vaccinated our population faster than any other country in Europe and as a result this Conservative government led the population out of lockdown faster than any other European country.”

He attacked what he called a “miserable morbid moanathon” from the media and forecast that voters would return to the Conservatives as the one party committed to cutting taxes and that “really believes in Brexit”.

And repeating an insult he has deployed before about the Labour leader, he added: “When people realise this I think the political dynamic is going to change. There is no desire to vote for Keir Starmer, for Sir Crasheroonie Snoozefest.

“So never give in, keep fighting, keep backing the government. Keep making the case for levelling up, for opportunities and for a dynamic low-tax global Britain. That is how we will win again.”

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Vintage Boris: Mayhem

Mr Johnson’s arrival at the Carlton Club, in the heart of London’s clubland in St James’s, was vintage Boris: mayhem. He arrived in his ex-PM protection vehicle, which inexplicably turned into a side street which turned out to be a cul-de-sac.

It was all to avoid a swarm of dozens of reporters, photographers and TV crews waiting outside the club’s front door. But such was the chaos that he had to leg it the final 20 yards, flanked by his rather ineffectual protection officers, who attempted to push his pursuers away.

The former PM didn’t seem to mind the scrum and the chaos, however. In fact, he appeared to be grinning and enjoying the attention. After all, what’s the point of being a rock star politician plotting your comeback if you’re not mobbed by photographers and TV crews?

He will have been less pleased that questions such as “Are you going to have a crack at it, Boris?” were drowned by his regular anti-Brexit tormentor Steve Bray bellowing insults like “Tory scum and “Tory fascists!” into his massive megaphone.

But despite Rishi Sunak’s supporters dismissing the comeback speculation as fantasy, the Bring Back Boris campaign has moved up a few gears this week and built up a momentum which will delight and alarm Conservative MPs and activists in equal measure.

“Is Boris Johnson bouncing back towards Number 10?” pondered The Sunday Times in a headline above a large spread by chief political commentator and acclaimed author Tim Shipman.

“Some in the party wonder if this week might be the beginning of the Johnson comeback,” the paper reported. “He has been invited, as all former Conservative prime ministers are, to unveil a new portrait of himself at The Carlton.

“But those who will gather include many of his closest political friends and supporters. One described it as ‘an opportunity to show that Boris hasn’t gone away’. Another called it an event ‘where we will be keeping the flame alive’.”

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For the Tories, it’s bring back Boris or die

There is some compelling evidence pointing to a Johnson comeback. Lord Greenhalgh, a close ally since Mr Johnson was London mayor, has predicted he’ll return as prime minister before the year is out.

Lord Cruddas and former Home Secretary Priti Patel have launched a new group, the Conservative Democratic Organisation, which they claim is to give party members more say over the leadership, party personnel and the selection of MPs.

Lord Cruddas told The Sunday Times: “A sitting prime minister was constructively dismissed by a small cabal of MPs without any input from members.

“Then members were presented with a choice of two candidates through secret ballots by the same MPs that forced Boris out. Members voted for [Liz] Truss and the same cabal of MPs forced her out and imposed the person that members rejected.”

Writing in The Mail on Sunday, meanwhile, Nadine Dorries – who describes Mr Johnson as a “political rock star” – wrote: “With Rishi in Number 10, we are heading into the long, cold and brutal wasteland of thankless opposition.

“For the Conservatives, it’s bring back Boris or die because the first task of any Labour government would be to ensure that there’ll never be a majority Conservative government ever again.”

And even a less partisan figure – and Rishi Sunak supporter in last year’s Tory leadership election is former government chief whip Mark Spencer, who said in a TV interview at the weekend: “You should never write Boris Johnson off. I think you write Boris Johnson off at your peril.”

Back in October, when his allies had the backing of enough Conservative MPs to fight Mr Sunak for the Tory crown, he bottled it. He bottled it in 2016 as well. His supporters hope he won’t bottle it a third time.