Boris Johnson could return to lead the Conservatives before the next election because no one else can “outdo Farage Farage”, one of his loyalist allies has claimed.

Former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries argues that Conservatives would have won the summer elections if the former prime minister had not been ousted from office.

She said: “He would have put Starmer into orbit. There is no better communicator than Boris Johnson.”

Ms Dorries suggests that if new Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch does not put the party back on the path to power, then the powerful Conservatives could say to Mr. Johnson, “I’m so sorry, we need you back.” »

She fears that Mr Johnson’s absence from frontline politics has allowed Britain’s Reform leader to Nigel Farage take center stage – with dangerous consequences for the Conservatives.

She told the Sunday Express: “There are red lights flashing on the road ahead telling us that week after week. Nigel Farage develops on the political scene. I would say the only reason this is happening is because Boris Johnson left this political scene.

“This facilitates its growth, both in popularity and as an alternative.”

In her new book, Downfall, she writes that if the “chaos continues” then “Boris is the only person who can outdo Farage Farage”, adding: “There may come a time, in a year or two, when Tory MPs realize that only one man can save them as they face a looming general election which, thanks to a burgeoning and seemingly unstoppable reform party, is expected to be even worse than the last.

The key question, according to Ms Dorries, is whether Mr Johnson – who has forged a lucrative career as a speaker and columnist – wants to return to the political fray.

“Of course I want to see him there,” she said. “I make no apologies for that. The problem is: does he want it?

She warns that today’s MPs should get on their knees, saying: “They won’t be able to get it back if they don’t.” »

THE Conservatives will be in grave danger of electoral annihilation, she claims, if Reform UK moderates its positions so it can appeal to a wider audience.

“If Boris is not here and Nigel Farage starts talking about politics in more moderate language, then he will eliminate the conservative party,” she said.

Ms Dorries says the ex-Prime Minister’s “genius” has built a vast record of support by not only advocating Brexit but leveling and environmental concerns.

“It was Boris JohnsonIt’s genius,” she said. “He knew he needed everyone.”

In her book, written before the Conservative leadership results were announced, she predicted that if Ms Badenoch won she would “face a vote of no confidence and be removed by MPs and never get closer to a general election” .

She insists she wants Ms Badenoch to succeed as Conservative leader because she wants Labor to disappear.

But she cautions: “The people who put it there – what’s important to them is power. And if they think she won’t give them power, they’ll remove her and replace her with someone who will.

“I wouldn’t even have resisted the idea of ​​coming back to Boris Johnson at some point and say, “I’m so sorry, we need your feedback.”

She says the main reason Rishi Sunak stood in the early elections is that he “absolutely hated being Prime Minister”.

“He believed that the minute he removed Boris Johnson and it was set up so that the polls would go up,” she said. “He would be seen as some sort of new messiah, coming over the water to save the Tory party, but it was quite the opposite and he couldn’t stand it.”

A return by Boris Johnson to the green benches would be one of the greatest comebacks of modern times.

But a former minister said: “He is one of the great comeback kings in politics. Why not?”

Mr Johnson quit as Prime Minister in July 2022 following mass resignations of ministers.

His premiership was rocked by the outcry over ‘partygate’ and claims Mr Johnson was briefed on the allegations about Chris Pincher before appointing him deputy chief whip. He then resigned as an MP in June 2023, saying the cross-party committee which had investigated whether he had misled Parliament about parties during the lockdown was “determined to use the procedures against me to expel me from Parliament.”

His fans believe he still has a lot to offer to the party.

A former minister who wants Conservatives to exploit his talents as an activist said: “Boris Johnson is an important figure in political life who has a unique ability to address the public. I would welcome his involvement in a campaign role for the Conservatives.”

And one prominent grassroots campaigner suggested he could lead the party again: “If Boris were to return as an MP over the next year, I think it is only natural that he would fight in the next election, in do. I think it’s a credible scenario.

However, a former minister and ally of the former prime minister said: “Unfortunately, I think the vast majority of Tory MPs we currently have do not and will not support Boris as leader. If Boris worked with the Reform Party I think he would wipe out the Labor Party.

“Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening at the moment either.”