Hi,

It seems to be an open secret now in Westminster that Boris Johnson is plotting a return to Number 10. For the sake of our democracy and our country, we cannot let that happen.

Most prime ministers, when they realise the writing is on the wall, step down, move out of the spotlight and let their successors get on with the job. Not Boris Johnson.

It wasn’t until 59 of his own ministers resigned that he finally accepted he had no future as prime minister. Even then, he insisted on staying in Number 10 for three months while the Conservative Party found his replacement.

Barely 50 days after his departure, when Liz Truss’s brief premiership came crashing down, Johnson had the audacity to push himself hard as a possible replacement for her.

And, since then, Johnson has done little but make lots of money and keep his media profile high. Remember when he gatecrashed Davos and 'accidentally’ bumped into a UK TV crew? Remember the high-profile visit to Kyiv?

But his latest move could be the most consequential yet. At the weekend, he intervened at a critical stage in the sensitive negotiations Sunak is having with the EU on the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill. Johnson set himself full-square against Sunak, warning him that it would be a “great mistake” to scrap the Protocol, and in doing so, roused the rebels in the hardline Brexit camp, no strangers to bringing down Conservative leaders.

The evidence is so abundant now that even former Chancellor of the Exchequer and seasoned Conservative Party strategist, George Osborne, was forced to concede in a weekend TV interview that Johnson is indeed trying to ‘bring down Rishi Sunak’ so he can be prime minister again.

Open Britain spent most of last year highlighting the damage that Johnson was doing to our country - and our democracy - and calling for him to go. (We even got him a giant leaving card filled with 15,000 of your 'farewell messages'!)

The country cannot afford a second Johnson premiership with all the lies, incompetence and corruption that would go with it. We're going to fight him all the way.

The Open Britain Team