Johnson ‘nominated father for knighthood’

BORIS JOHNSON nominated his father for a knighthood in his resignation honours list, it has been reported.

Stanley Johnson was one of as many as 100 names put forward by the former prime minister, according to The Times.

The list of nominees was said to be significantly longer than those of Mr Johnson’s predecessors Theresa May and David Cameron, who identified 60 and 62 people respectively.

The nominations must be approved by the Cabinet Office and then signed off by No 10.

It comes amid news that Mr Johnson could be blocked from making a “chicken run” to a safer constituency to fight the next election because of rules imposed by Conservative high command, The Daily Telegraph understands.

The former prime minister has insisted he will defend his seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip in Greater London. However, with Mr Johnson facing a fight to retain the seat, there has been speculation that he may try to move to a more winnable constituency.

This has been intensified by reports of Mr Johnson house-hunting in Oxfordshire, close to his former seat of Henley, where John Howell, the current MP, has not yet confirmed whether he will stand again at the next election.

However, Tory sources have said that Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) is likely to stand in the way of Mr Johnson attempting a “chicken run”.

A senior source told The Telegraph that while MPS can seek permission to relocate to another seat if they are affected by boundary changes, this is only likely to be approved if the electoral “character” of their seat is negatively affected by the changes.

The source said the rule was aimed at preventing a free-for-all of MPS scrambling en masse for safer constituencies.

For example, an MP could be granted permission to apply to be the candidate elsewhere if boundary changes mean their seat has gone from a strong Tory majority to a substantial Labour one.

However, the source claimed this is not the case for Uxbridge, with the revisions favouring the Tories.

Mr Johnson achieved a majority of 7,210 in 2019, but according to analysis by Electoral Calculus, if he had fought that election under the new boundaries due to come into effect, the majority would have stood at 8,193.

A source close to Mr Johnson said: “As he has made clear, Boris is standing in Uxbridge and South Ruislip at the next election.”