Boris Johnson will try to make a comeback as prime minister, a former Tory cabinet member has predicted.
Rory Stewart, who ran against Johnson for the Conservative leadership in 2019, said the outgoing PM “has an extraordinary ego and he believes that he was badly treated”.
He compared him to three-time Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and former US president Donald Trump, who is expected to make another run for the White House in 2024.
Johnson only has one more week left in Number 10 before he is replaced by either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak.
He was forced to resign as prime minister after dozens of his own frontbenchers resigned in protest at his handling of the scandal surrounding former deputy chief whip Chris Pincher.
It was reported at the weekend that Johnson could stand again to be Tory leader before the next election if his successor - who is expected to be Truss - is brought down by the cost of living crisis.
Asked on Radio 4′s Today programme whether that could happen, former international development secretary Stewart said: “I’m afraid he has an extraordinary ego and he believes that he was badly treated.
“He doesn’t see the reality, which is that he was a terrible prime minister and he lost his job because of deep flaws of character and, yes, I fear we’ll end up with a second Berlusconi or a second Trump trying to rock back in again.”
Stewart, who stood down as a Tory MP at the last election, also took aim at Truss’s plans to cut taxes if she becomes prime minister.
He said: “One of the things that’s worrying is the tendency of everybody - and all candidates get dragged into this - to make promises that sound fine but either can’t be delivered or turn out to be damaging.
“I’m particularly worried about these promises of tax cuts at a time when inflation is taking off and when I fear our public sector needs support.”