Boris Johnson does not want to resign as prime minister and wants to fight the next general election as leader of the Conservative party, according to former party treasurer Lord Cruddas of Shoreditch.
More than 10,000 Tory party members have put their name to a petition demanding that Johnson is included on the final ballot alongside Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss.
The ‘bring back Boris’ campaign would reinstate Johnson as PM and, if the latest polls are to be believed, could be quite a popular move.
Speaking to the Mail Lord Crudas slammed the ousting of Boris as prime minister by a minority of MPs
“It amounts to a coup. I am ashamed that this can happen in Britain, the birthplace of modern democracy”, he said.
Over lunch at Chequers on Friday, Lord Cruddas of Shoreditch claimed Johnson told him he “wants to fight the next general election as leader of the party”.
Johnson told him he was “enjoying following” his petition and “rooting for your campaign to succeed”, according to the reports.
“There was no ambiguity in Boris’s views. He definitely does not want to resign. He wants to carry on and he believes that, with the membership behind him, he can.”
Asked by the peer if he would “wipe away” his resignation immediately with “a magic wand”, Johnson reportedly replied: “I would wipe away everything that stops me being PM in a second.”
However, the claims were denied on Monday night by a senior Conservative source, who said: “The PM does not support this campaign and respects the process of the leadership election. He does not support any campaign to put him on the leadership ballot and will back whoever is the next leader.”
Related: Watch: Stanley Johnson snaps after journalist dubs Boris a ‘liar’
