Is it time for Rishi to pick up the phone and ask vote magnet Boris to lend a hand?

As Labour maintains poll lead, panicking Tory MPs ask...

IT WAS the toe-curling image that came to define Tony Blair’s 2005 Election campaign: putting on a show of unity with Gordon Brown by buying him a Mr Whippy ice cream. Behind the rictus grins, the power struggle between the two men was Westminster’s worst-kept secret – but the warring double act still managed to secure a third term in No10.

Now Rishi Sunak has to decide whether to take to the stump with Boris Johnson in this year’s campaign.

It is an unenviable calculation for the Prime Minister to make: while Mr Johnson’s campaigning skills are not in doubt – two London Mayoral terms, Brexit and a thumping majority at the last Election – they will be harder for Mr Sunak to harness for his own political ends.

As one senior party strategist puts it: ‘The risk is that Boris will just outshine Rishi and make him look like a diminished political figure.’

But as Sir Keir Starmer’s double-digit poll lead refuses to budge, the clamour from panicking Tory MPs for Mr Johnson to play a part in the campaign is becoming difficult for No 10 to ignore.

Those MPs in the Red Wall seats of the North and Midlands, which Mr Johnson won from Labour in 2019, are particularly vocal about their desire for him to become involved, both in representations to Downing Street and to Mr Johnson himself.

Science Minister Andrew Griffith became the first member of the Government to support a comeback by Mr Johnson this weekend, saying: ‘Boris is a great voice.’ The strategists made one tentative suggestion, which was instantly brushed aside by Mr Johnson, that he could write letters to swing voters in crunch seats, allowing him to wield influence without hogging the limelight.

MR JOHNSON was unimpressed. A spokesman declined to comment, but a source said: ‘If Boris is going to be involved, it will have to be in a more substantive capacity. And the approach will have to be made by the Prime Minister himself.

‘They have not spoken for more than a year, apart from a few words on Remembrance Day. Many MPs want him to play a part, but Boris will wait for the PM’s formal approach.’ An MP loyal to Mr Johnson put it more bluntly last night, saying: ‘Get over yourself, Rishi, and pick up the phone.’

A No10 source said: ‘We want the whole Conservative family to come together to beat Starmer and Labour at the next Election. Boris and everyone else united in that aim will of course be welcome.’

Allies of the former Prime Minister play down Mr Johnson’s immediate political ambitions, arguing that Labour’s poll lead is too large, and too stable, to overhaul before polling day. Longstanding Boris observers expect him to stand back and watch a former colleague, such as Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch, inherit the post-Election mess, struggle for a couple of years and then be toppled themselves.

That would be the moment for Mr Johnson to sweep back into the Commons and take over as leader in time for the following Election.

One insider described the wargaming scenario: ‘A bad Election loss, no movement in the polls with a new candidate – that’s when he comes in. He will be perfectly placed a couple of years out from the next Election.’

Mrs Badenoch has been at the centre of renewed speculation over her ambitions since a group of rebels plotting to bring down the Prime Minister – revealed by The Mail on Sunday to be operating out of restaurants and offices in London’s Theatreland – identified her as the best candidate to succeed Mr Sunak. This weekend, Mrs Badenoch was embroiled in a row with former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries over her book The Plot: The Political Assassination Of Boris Johnson, which argued that the Conservatives have been controlled for 20 years by a shadowy cabal that decided when to topple their leaders. According to the book, the cabal is centred on Edinburghborn adviser Dougie Smith, who was said to be acting in cahoots with Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove and Boris Johnson’s ex-chief of staff Dominic Cummings.

Mrs Badenoch claimed she had been subject to death threats after Mrs Dorries said the cabal was plotting to install her as the next leader. Mrs Dorries hit back, saying: ‘The Plot is a factual record of events, which Kemi appears to be obsessing over. All MPs receive death threats these days – it is quite ridiculous and bizarre that she should link them to The Plot, in which she is barely mentioned.’ However, this newspaper has been told that Mr Smith, who has not entered Downing Street since October, has retained a role in selecting the party’s candidates for the Election, and is giving priority to those likely to support Mrs Badenoch.

There is no suggestion that Mrs Badenoch is aware of this, and Mr Smith declined to comment.

But some rebel MPs involved in the plot to unseat the Prime Minister are now cooling on the idea of Mrs Badenoch as leader.

One said: ‘The dealings we have had with her so far have been less than reassuring.’

Moderate One Nation Conservative MPs are also understood to be discussing replacing Mr Sunak before the Election amid fears that he is leading the party to electoral wipeout, raising the prospect of a ‘pincer movement’ leadership challenge from both wings of the party.

A One Nation Tory MP said they knew of ‘two or three’ moderate Tories who are prepared to submit letters of no confidence in Mr Sunak. The MP said they ‘want Sunak to step down voluntarily and avoid a civil war’.

Asked how that could work, the MP said it would involve convincing Mr Sunak that he would ‘avoid being the worst Prime Minister in electoral terms for 20 years’ if he stepped aside for either Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt or Home Secretary James Cleverly.

The critics point to an offer from Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) to give every Tory MP 30,000 free leaflets to campaign with at the start of this year, which backfired after many MPs refused to take up the offer because the leaflets featured a large photograph of the Prime Minister. ‘Normally you’d bite their hand off in an Election year,’ said an MP. ‘But only about half took them up on the offer, and some MPs complained after getting the leaflets.’

Another source said MPs and parliamentary candidates do not want the Prime Minister to feature prominently when they speak to voters, and are instead running ‘hyper-local’ campaigns. CCHQ sources said they do not expect all MPs to accept such offers and the take-up was bigger than they budgeted for.

MPs are also concerned by what they see as a ‘white flag’ approach to upcoming by-elections by Mr Sunak’s team, who appear resigned to losing the Tory seats of both KingswoodandWellingborough this week.

A source dismissed the threat of a change of leader, saying there are ‘at most 20 letters’ of no confidence in the Prime Minister, and that the malcontents in the party would find it ‘impossible’ to reach the 52 threshold to trigger a confidence vote. ‘They just don’t have the numbers,’ the source said.

Either way, don’t expect a full-time return to Westminster for Boris Johnson – just yet.