Boris Johnson has tonight made a surprise appearance at a ‘stop the supermajority’ Conservative rally to warn of the dangers of Keir Starmer. The former prime minister, who has spent most of the election campaign on holiday, came on stage in Central London to chants of ‘Boris! Boris’ and told the crowd of party activists that: ‘I’m really, absolutely clear that I was glad when Rishi asked me to help. Of course, I couldn’t say no, and I’m here for one reason and one reason only, which is the same reason as all of you, all of us are here. We’re here because we love our country.’
He warned that giving Labour a ‘supermajority’ would ‘make us nothing but the punk of Brussels, taking EU law by dictation with no say on how that law is made’. In classic colourful language, he said: ‘All the time, poor old Starmer is so terrified of disobeying left-wing dogma that he’s reluctant to explain the difference between a man and a woman. And he just, he just sits there with his mouth opening and shouting like a stunned mullet.’
Sunak paid tribute to Johnson and later in his rally speech to David Cameron for ‘rescuing our country’ from ‘bankruptcy’, then listing the Conservatives’ record in government. This was striking coming from the man who made one of his rebrands a claim that he was a break from the consensus of the past 30 years, but that conference speech was a long time ago. He sounded energised as he listed the achievements of his party, saying: ‘I don’t know about you, that is a record I’m proud of!’
This was very much a get-out-the-vote (and get-out-the-activists, too, given how demoralised the party is) rally rather than one aimed at undecided voters. Sunak used the 130,000 figure once again as he said just this number of votes could change the course of the election. Using Johnson and Cameron as part of his speech will remind many voters that Sunak never properly broke with Johnson. Tonight, he will be glad that he didn’t because Johnson has at least stopped the campaign limping to the end.
But why did Johnson bother to respond to Sunak’s call for help? He may have become aware of quite how much opprobrium he was receiving in Conservative circles because of his decision to carry on holidaying while everyone else was in the campaign trenches. Johnson isn’t yet done with politics (and never will be) and will have been weighing up how closely to associate himself with this dreadful campaign. Swooping in at the last minute is exactly his style.
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