There is “no prospect” of Boris Johnson ever becoming prime minister again, George Osborne has said.
The former chancellor said the civil war inside the Tory Party “has ended” because Johnson is now fighting to even remain as an MP.
The ex-prime minister is waiting for the privilege committee’s verdict on whether he misled the Commons over lockdown-busting parties inside 10 Downing Street.
On the Andrew Neil Show on Channel 4, Osborne also praised Rishi Sunak for improving the Conservatives’ fortunes since taking over as PM from Liz Truss and said they now had a chance of winning the next election.
Speaking after an interview with safeguarding minister Sarah Dines, Osborne said: “I think things are much better for [Sunak’s] administration at the end of this series of this show than they were when we started at the beginning of the year.
″Not least because the internal rebellion has ended in the Tory Party.
“You were asking the minister about Boris Johnson - there’s no prospect of him coming back. He’s battling to stay in the House of Commons itself.”
Johnson gave a fiery appearance in front of the privileges committee last month during which he admitted he did mislead the Commons, but insisted his comments were made “in good faith” after being assured by his advisers that no parties had taken place.
An interim report by the committee earlier this month said it should have been “obvious” to him that lockdown rules were broken.
If the committee recommends that Johnson be suspended from parliament for at leats 10 days, and the Commons votes for it, he would face a recall petition and potentially a by-election in his Uxbridge seat.