Sunak says he speaks to Boris Johnson ‘on occasion’ and doesn’t rule out bringing him back
Rishi Sunak said he still speaks to Boris Johnson “on occasion” – and did not rule out bringing the former prime minister back into his cabinet.
Mr Sunak said he was “proud” of what the pair achieved before he became one of the first in a series of ministerial departures which ended in the former Tory leader’s downfall.
Asked in an interview with ITV whether he misses Mr Johnson, he said: “I’m proud of the work that we did together.
“And we worked well together for a long time. In the end there are, you know, well-documented differences”.
On whether he would consider offering a cabinet position to the ex-MP, as he did with David Cameron, Mr Sunak said: “Well, I never talk about these personnel things, but look, I, you know, I speak to him on an occasion.”
Pressed on when they last spoke, he said it was “late last year”.
Mr Sunak served as chancellor in Mr Johnson’s government for two years before resigning along with then-health secretary Sajid Javid in July 2022 over his handling of the Chris Pincher affair.
The move triggered a mass exodus of MPs from government and party roles, even leading to praise from some MPs that Mr Sunak had stabbed Mr Johnson “in the front”.
Mr Johnson’s leadership had already been hanging by a thread due to the fall-out from the partygate scandal.
After he resigned, a rivalry between Mr Sunak and his former boss then emerged as he embarked on a campaign for Mr Johnson’s job, with both vying to take back control of the Tory Party following Liz Truss’s short-lived tenure as PM.
Mr Johnson ultimately dropped out of the autumn leadership race and eventually quit as an MP after a parliamentary committee found he had lied to the House over partygate.
But he has made frequent interventions on the political scene, criticising the government over decisions ranging from Brexit to immigration and HS2.
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Sunak was honourable and ‘stabbed’ Johnson in the ‘front’
Later in the interview, Mr Sunak insisted plots against him are “minuscule” following reports of Tory MPs seeking to replace him as leader.
“I don’t think the country votes for divided parties,” he said, insisting that “the vast majority of our party is united”.
The prime minister also insisted his wealth is not an issue for voters and accused those who attack him over it of having a “lack of ambition for our country”.
Mr Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty, have a combined wealth estimated at about £529m, according to 2023’s Sunday Times Rich List.
Polling suggests the prime minister faces an uphill battle ahead of the general election expected later this year, with Labour currently enjoying a sustained lead of around 20 points.
“I think most people in our country are fair-minded,” Mr Sunak said.
“And you know what, if someone wants to attack that or make it a political smear, I actually think it says more about them and their ambition for our country, or lack of it, than it does about me and where I come from.”
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Politics
Norman Tebbit: Former Tory minister who served in Margaret Thatcher’s government dies aged 94
Norman Tebbit, the former Tory minister who served in Margaret Thatcher’s government, has died at the age of 94.
Lord Tebbit died “peacefully at home” late on Monday night, his son William confirmed.
One of Mrs Thatcher’s most loyal cabinet ministers, he was a leading political voice throughout the turbulent 1980s.
He held the posts of employment secretary, trade secretary, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Conservative party chairman before resigning as an MP in 1992 after his wife was left disabled by the Provisional IRA’s bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton.
He considered standing for the Conservative leadership after Mrs Thatcher’s resignation in 1990, but was committed to taking care of his wife.
Margaret Thatcher and Norman Tebbit in 1987 after her election victory. Pic: PA
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called him an “icon” in British politics and was “one of the leading exponents of the philosophy we now know as Thatcherism”.
“But to many of us it was the stoicism and courage he showed in the face of terrorism, which inspired us as he rebuilt his political career after suffering terrible injuries in the Brighton bomb, and cared selflessly for his wife Margaret, who was gravely disabled in the bombing,” she wrote on X.
“He never buckled under pressure and he never compromised. Our nation has lost one of its very best today and I speak for all the Conservative family and beyond in recognising Lord Tebbit’s enormous intellect and profound sense of duty to his country.
“May he rest in peace.”
Lord Tebbit and his wife Margaret stand outside the Grand Hotel in Brighton. Pic: PA
Tory grandee David Davis told Sky News Lord Tebbit was a “great working class Tory, always ready to challenge establishment conventional wisdom for the bogus nonsense it often was”.
“He was one of Thatcher’s bravest and strongest lieutenants, and a great friend,” Sir David said.
“He had to deal with the agony that the IRA visited on him and his wife, and he did so with characteristic unflinching courage. He was a great man.”
Reform leader Nigel Farage said Lord Tebbit “gave me a lot of help in my early days as an MEP”.
He was “a great man. RIP,” he added.
Lord Tebbit as employment secretary in 1983 with Mrs Thatcher. Pic: PA
Born to working-class parents in north London, he was made a life peer in 1992, where he sat until he retired in 2022.
Lord Tebbit was trade secretary when he was injured in the Provisional IRA’s bombing in Brighton during the Conservative Party conference in 1984.
Five people died in the attack and Lord Tebbit’s wife, Margaret, was left paralysed from the neck down. She died in 2020 at the age of 86.
Before entering politics, his first job, aged 16, was at the Financial Times where he had his first experience of trade unions and vowed to “break the power of the closed shop”.
He then trained as a pilot with the RAF – at one point narrowly escaping from the burning cockpit of a Meteor 8 jet – before becoming the MP for Epping in 1970 then for Chingford in 1974.
Lord Tebbit during an EU debate in the House of Lords in 1997. Pic: PA
As a cabinet minister, he was responsible for legislation that weakened the powers of the trade unions and the closed shop, making him the political embodiment of the Thatcherite ideology that was in full swing.
His tough approach was put to the test when riots erupted in Brixton, south London, against the backdrop of high rates of unemployment and mistrust between the black community and the police.
He was frequently misquoted as having told the unemployed to “get on your bike”, and was often referred to as “Onyerbike” for some time afterwards.
What he actually said was he grew up in the ’30s with an unemployed father who did not riot, “he got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking till he found it”.
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