With supporters demanding "bring back Boris" and critics calling it "an insult" to the British people, an anticipated bid by Boris Johnson to become United Kingdom prime minister once again has stirred an already boiling political pot.
Liz Truss’ resignation as British Prime Minister on Thursday triggered the second leadership race in just four months for the U.K.'s fractured and demoralized Conservative Party.
There was intense speculation Thursday that Johnson, 58, may return and put himself forward as prime minister again – just weeks after he was forced out of office by a series of ethics scandals.
By declaring "hasta la vista baby" during his last question time in parliament on July 20, Johnson had already dropped a heavy hint that he had unfinished business.
According to The Times, he intends to join the race to succeed Liz Truss, believing that it is in the "national interest."
On Twitter, some Conservatives were trying to make the hashtag #BringBorisBack go viral on Thursday, just after Truss announced her resignation after just 45 days in office.
Truss said her successor will be chosen in a leadership contest to be completed by the end of next week.
Within hours of Truss' resignation, several Conservative allies of Johnson's voiced their support for him to return.
"The only person who has a mandate from the general public is Boris Johnson," said one lawmaker, Marco Longhi. "He is the only person who can discharge the mandate from the people."
Tory MP Brendan Clarke-Smith told Sky News that the next prime minister needed "a mandate" from voters and party members. He should be "somebody who can actually be a winner," he said.
"Boris Johnson is the man who ticks all those boxes."
Johnson, who is on holiday abroad, is flying back to the U.K. this weekend, a journalist at the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Thursday.
But highlighting the division, Tory MP Roger Gale said that Johnson should be barred from standing, given he is still under parliamentary investigation over the "partygate" scandal that brought him down.
"Until that investigation is complete and he is found guilty or cleared, there should be no possibility of him returning to government," said Gale.
Opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer reiterated his view that Johnson was "unfit" to govern.
"So if they're going to go from this experiment, this chaos, this economic damage, and wind back three months to a man who was deemed to be unfit for office, I think that only adds insult to injury for the public," he told the BBC.
But any lingering Johnsonian ambitions will run into the high bar set by the Conservative party for leadership candidates this time – at least 100 nominations each from among Tory MPs.
"I don't think that MPs will want to go back and pick the same person they drummed out of Downing Street only a few months ago," Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"Two-thirds of voters wanted him to resign. It's fantasy land to think that voters want him back," he added.
Johnson led the Conservatives to their biggest win in decades in the 2019 general election, largely on the back of his promise to "get Brexit done."
But his time in office was overshadowed by scandals over alcohol-fueled parties held at his official residence while national COVID-19 restrictions were in place. He still faces an ongoing investigation by parliament’s privileges committee into whether he lied to lawmakers about COVID-rule breaking at Downing Street.
He was forced to announce his resignation on July 7 after former allies in his Cabinet joined a mass exodus of government officials protesting his leadership.
Besides the anticipated bid by Johnson, former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, ex-Cabinet Minister Penny Mordaunt and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace are among those considered credible contenders for the top job. Jeremy Hunt, who has been brought in as the new Treasury chief to steer the economy, has ruled out running.
Whoever wins will become the fifth British prime minister in six years.