In the United Kingdom, the return of Boris Johnson triggers a clan war among the Tories – Liberation

The race for Downing Street is on and three candidates emerge: Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and a ghost: Boris Johnson. They have until Monday afternoon to collect 100 sponsorships each from Conservative MPs. Nothing is decided because the return of BoJo panics the pack. He is back. The image of the British Airways plane carrying Boris Johnson this Saturday morning, which lands on the tarmac at Gatwick airport in London, is, as always with him, sensational. This hasty return from a family vacation in the Caribbean of the former Prime Minister, followed live by thousands of people on “flight tracking” applications, is yet another twist in the soap opera that the Conservative Party has become. Bag on his back, black suit, white shirt poorly tucked into his pants, hair still just as blond and messy, “Boris” gets off the plane, turns to the photographers and waves to them. Boris Johnson had warned, by giving the keys to 10 Downing Street to Liz Truss at the beginning of September, that it would not stop there. Annoyed at having been taken out by his peers, he then compared himself to the Roman consul Cincinnatus, who had been begged, in the 5th century BC, to take over the reins of power to avoid an invasion. But was it the right time to play the providential man? He who, still a deputy for Uxbridge, took a vacation in the Dominican Republic in the middle of a parliamentary session, turning his back on the problems of his country? He did not even take part in the crucial vote on an amendment calling for a ban on fracking last Wednesday. Pro-Boris and pro-Rishi a leader who brings people together. Three candidates are emerging: Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt, for the moment the only one to have formalized her candidacy. The latter attracts with its freshness, but remains far behind its rivals. Each candidate has until Monday afternoon to secure at least 100 endorsements among the 357 Conservative MPs. Clan warfare has been declared between the pro-Boris and the pro-Rishi – Rishi Sunak being Boris Johnson’s ex-finance minister, who came in behind Liz Truss in the election this summer. He has been discreet since his defeat and is also preparing, behind the scenes, for his return. Once allies, the two men hate each other. Rishi Sunak is seen as “the one who stuck a knife in Boris’ back” when he resigned in a resounding way last July. However, among the conservatives, we do not like traitors. Rishi Sunak is however the first to have obtained more than one hundred sponsorships, Saturday, October 22. “We cannot go back,” assures Dominic Raab, former foreign minister under Johnson. He recalls that his ex-boss is still under investigation by the Privileges Committee in the context of the “Partygate” scandals, to find out whether Boris Johnson misled Parliament. “We need a Prime Minister who is focused on the problems of this country,” continues Dominic Raab. Rishi Sunak, on the other hand, is highly regarded in financial circles. He who, all summer, had mocked Liz Truss on her economic program based on growth and lower taxes. History will have proven him right. He had appeared as the responsible candidate, in favor of the reduction of the country’s debt, but unloved by the base of the conservative voters, who had preferred the tunes of Thatcher that Liz Truss gave herself. But against Boris, will he have a chance? Verdict of the polls If the two candidates manage to gather one hundred sponsorships each (the Boris clan claimed that it had won 100, which its rivals dispute), they will have to submit to the verdict of party members and learn to live together. The Tory activists, around 150,000, will have until Friday, October 28 to decide between them. However, Boris Johnson, despite all his “pans”, is still very popular in his base. He is still considered the man who won an exceptional majority in the 2019 general election and who achieved Brexit thanks to his power of seduction. A nod to the calendar, it is the day of Boris’ return that thousands of Pro-EU demonstrators marched through the streets of London this Saturday afternoon: the first parade since leaving the European Union became a reality. More pressure for the Conservatives. Their obsession: early elections that they would lose outright against the Labor Party. So for some parliamentarians, the solution would be that “Cincinnatus”, alias Boris, in the event of victory, includes “Brutus”, alias Rishi, in the government. Either way, BoJo is back.