Party members are no fools. They know a winner when they see one

AND HERE, TWO POWERFUL PARTY VOICES MAKE CASE FOR HIS RETURN

THERE is a simple solution to all this chaos. We already have a democratically elected leader for the Government, the party and the country. Arguably, the Tories don’t even need another leadership election.

For Boris Johnson was decisively chosen in 2019 by the Conservative membership and subsequently backed by voters in a thundering landslide at the last general election.

Why bother putting the British public through the wringer one more time? Just let Boris get back to the job.

When his parliamentary colleagues turned against him earlier this year and forced him out of office, I led the calls to let him stand again.

The rules of the 1922 Committee barred Boris from immediately running for reelection, but I, like many others, believed he nonetheless deserved to be on the ballot.

I even organised a petition – and more than 25,000 party members signed it.

To my immense frustration, we were ignored. And in the subsequent ballot between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, I refused to vote; I didn’t recognise the contest as legitimate.

The party members are no fools. They know a winner when they see one. And Boris is the best hope the Tories have of seeing off Keir Starmer and leading the party to another election victory.

We must also analyse the ‘offences’ of which Boris was supposedly guilty.

A birthday cake he didn’t eat. A glass of warm prosecco he didn’t drink. A minor scandal involving a drunken MP whose name is already forgotten.

Compared to Miss Truss’s fumbling attempts at fiscal reform which nearly plunged the economy into a crisis more severe than Labour’s disaster of 2008, these Westminster-bubble issues are an irrelevance.

In truth, Boris was ousted in a fit of inexplicable hysteria. If the current crisis demands anything, it is that petty politicking be put aside – not just to ensure party unity, but for the sake of the country.

We are suffering a surge in the cost of living, with sky-high bills and spiralling food prices.

That’s what ordinary families talk about every day – and that’s what Parliament should be focused on.

Boris is the only one who has the charisma and the political vision to connect with ordinary people all over the country and lead us out of this mess. He has already proved his cross-party appeal by winning over huge swathes of voters in traditional Labour regions and turning the Red Wall blue.

CALL it levelling-up, call it boosterism, but Boris inspired a deep belief that we could genuinely make Britain better for everyone. The House of Commons has allowed itself to be utterly distracted – and all at a time when world peace is at its most imperilled since the Second World War.

From his oversized desk in the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin must be delighted to see the turmoil in Westminster.

Tory MPs must now get a grip. This is their moment to stand back – and let Boris take the lead again.

Lord Cruddas of Shoreditch is a former Conservative Party treasurer