Every so often it goes quiet round here, which is a relief in some ways but a nuisance in others.
It’s been a sort of fallow period. Bits going on here and there. Obviously, there’s the NHS crisis, cost of living, etc, but despite all that MPs seem in a calm, placid mood. Too quiet.
The problem with a time like this is that people use the void to get all sorts of rumours going. Latest set are around Boris Johnson. Odds are he probably started them.
Talk of a comeback has been going about – and I’m not kidding here – before he left Downing Street.
Fans of his – and there are some – are willing to ignore Partygate and all the rest of it, and big-up his credentials as an election-winning machine.
They feel, despite all the terrible things he did, he was unfairly driven out of Number 10. Strange, I know. But they miss him, they just want him back.
Nadine Dorries said on the telly this week that Mr Johnson should return, saying: “Conservative MPs have one very simple question to ask themselves when they look in the mirror, do you want to continue being an MP?”
I think we all know the answer to that one.
The latest set of rumours came after Mr Johnson registered a £1million donation from an investor, which people in Westminster seized on as evidence of a leadership bid.
People reckon there are about 30 or so MPs – who were probably given a job by Mr Johnson back in the day – who would love to see it happen. I know one of them and I can’t exaggerate the joy in the phone call I got when that £1m dropped.
Deep down, though, even his most fervent supporters, in their most feverish dreams, know it cannot happen. British politics needs some sort of stability, at least for a little while, and Mr Johnson is anything but stable.
And he hasn’t got the numbers to cause real trouble.
It looks like the plan was to leverage his popularity and promise the current PM, Rishi Sunak, that he wouldn’t cause any trouble, in exchange for a safe seat. Uxbridge is about a 7,000 majority and most people think it’s ripe for the taking. Mr Johnson would like somewhere safer.
The unfortunate thing for him is the speed with which his scheme got slapped down. Number 10 did the calculations, worked out the level of threat and pulled the plug. No negotiations, it seems.
He’ll have to stay in Uxbridge, and 7,000 is really not a lot these days, even in a seat that has been Tory since it was formed in 2010. Mr Johnson put on 2,000 votes last time round but this time he will have a real fight on his hands.
And that could be that. Out of the game.
Meantime, he’s back at square one, and Mr Sunak has no need to worry about an imminent leadership challenge – although a hammering in the local elections in May might put a bit of pressure on.
Currently, Mr Johnson has no option other than to keep doing what he’s doing – being a nuisance and trying to make some cash. Business as usual.
