Johnson back amid post-Truss jockeying

LONDON — The lightning-fast race to replace Liz Truss as British Prime Minister got wilder Saturday as former leader Boris Johnson jetted back to the U.K amid speculation he will run to reclaim his former job.

Johnson was ousted by a series of ethics scandals just three months ago, but boarded a flight back to London from his vacation in the Dominican Republic, days after the resignation of Truss.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, said Saturday it was “difficult to see” how Johnson could become prime minister again when he is “distracted” by an ongoing inquiry into alleged parties at Downing Street while the rest of the country was observing covid-19 lockdown rules, and Johnson’s statements to parliament afterward. The new prime minister is supposed to be in place by Oct. 28.

Even so, Johnson has the public backing of several other former Cabinet colleagues. He needs the backing of 100 lawmakers before 2 p.m. Monday to be on the ballot paper.

Johnson’s former Treasury chief, Rishi Sunak, lost to Truss in a vote of Conservative Party grassroots members, but he was strongly supported by his party’s lawmakers. The BBC estimates he has already reached the required threshold of support to be formally declared a candidate.

House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt is the only candidate to publicly declare she is running to replace Truss, saying in a tweet Friday that she represents “a fresh start.”

Mordaunt, a straight-talking 49-year-old Royal Navy reservist who briefly served as U.K. defense secretary in 2019, is the bookmakers’ third favorite.