Rishi Sunak would block Boris Johnson from standing again as a Conservative MP before the next election, sources have told the Guardian, as the two men engaged in an extraordinary war of words. The prime minister clashed publicly with Johnson over his failed attempts to elevate several close allies to the House of Lords, accusing him of having lobbied to overturn due process to appoint the three Tory MPs. Johnson dismissed his claims as “rubbish”.
The exchanges brought into the open the bitter long-running dispute between the two politicians, which has caused a wider rift in the Conservative party and triggered a series of byelections that could test Sunak’s grip on power. Johnson unexpectedly announced on Friday he would resign as an MP immediately after learning that the House of Commons privileges committee was to recommend he be suspended for at least 10 days for lying to MPs about Partygate. However, he hinted he could try to make a return to frontline politics, saying he was “very sad to be leaving parliament – at least for now”, while close allies said he had felt cheated after being forced out of No 10. The committee is expected rule that the former prime minister was not advised by his officials to say that social distancing guidelines had been observed, contrary to a claim he made repeatedly to the House of Commons. Downing Street and Conservative Campaign Headquarters remained tight-lipped over whether Sunak, as Tory party leader, would block Johnson’s return to the party’s candidate list before the next election. However, one senior party figure told the Guardian: “I can see no time when he will be a candidate this year or next.” Another senior Tory insider added: “It’s the leader who is in charge of the party. Why would Rishi let Boris on to the candidate list? It’s pretty obvious to me that he won’t. The party needs to move forward from this clown show. The vast majority of MPs agree.” A poll by YouGov found there was little appetite among the public for Johnson to return to parliament, with just 25% wanting this to happen at some point in the future. A majority of Britons (56%) do not want Johnson to come back as an MP. Johnson formally stepped down as an MP on Monday, bringing down the curtain on a tumultuous second stint in the Commons that included him delivering Brexit, leading the country during the pandemic and supporting Ukraine, but was also plagued with scandal, cronyism rows and chaotic mismanagement. He has shown little sign of planning to go quietly, with his camp accusing the prime minister of having “secretly blocked” the peerages of three allies – the Tory former ministers Nadine Dorries, Nigel Adams and Alok Sharma – from his resignation list.
Speaking to TalkTV on Monday night, Dorries said she only learned she had not made the resignation honours list half an hour before it was published. The former culture secretary claimed she resigned as an MP after being “bullied” by No 10 as she accused Sunak of “duplicitously and cruelly” blocking her from getting a peerage. She said: “I spoke to the chief whip in the morning and he said: ‘No, everything’s fine’. He got back to me 30 minutes before the list was published and said: ‘Actually, you’re not on the list.’” She added she was first told the news by a Times journalist, Steven Swinford, on Thursday night and “didn’t believe him”. After remaining silent over the weekend, Sunak blew the row wide open when asked about it after a speech at London Tech Week, as he defended the decision of the House of Lords Appointments Commission (Holac) to block the MPs. “Boris Johnson asked me to do something that I wasn’t prepared to do, because I didn’t think it was right. That was either overrule the Holac committee, or make promises to people,” he said. “Now, I wasn’t prepared to do that, so I didn’t think it was right. And if people don’t like that then tough.” Johnson hit back within hours, issuing a statement saying: “Rishi Sunak is talking rubbish. To honour these peerages it was not necessary to overrule Holac – but simply to ask them to renew their vetting, which was a mere formality.” His allies had claimed that Johnson reached a “gentleman’s agreement” with the prime minister that he would wave through the honours list and allow the MPs to be re-vetted by Holac at a later date, so they would not have to stand down now. However, one Downing Street source said the Cabinet Office had made it clear to Johnson that there was no re-vetting process, while the prime minister’s official spokesperson said it was “entirely untrue” that Sunak or his No 10 team had removed names from the list. The privileges committee, which has a Tory majority, met on Monday to finalise and discuss its report into Johnson, who has dismissed the investigation as a “witch-hunt”. The MPs are expected to publish the report on Wednesday at the earliest. The committee has already decided its sanction for the former prime minister and this is not expected to change as a result of his comments impugning its integrity, which some Westminster figures had suggested may lead to a longer suspension. However, the Guardian understands that the MPs are likely to comment on his criticisms when they publish and could also warn Johnson’s allies that some of their remarks questioning the impartiality of the committee are unacceptable. His allies have never forgiven Sunak for his decision to stand down as chancellor last year, a move they believe helped bring Johnson down as prime minister. Tensions were renewed in recent weeks over the honours list and the Covid-19 inquiry WhatsApp row. Tory MPs have been left despairing at the “blue on blue” in-fighting, which has threatened to plunge the party into civil war and which they fear will leave the public thinking they are more focused on internal matters than major issues such as the cost of living crisis.