BORIS Johnson would’ve “easily” steered the Tories to a crushing win over Sir Keir Starmer if he was still Prime Minister, Nadine Dorries has claimed.
The ex-Culture Secretary backed a shock comeback for the blonde firebrand, telling our Never Mind The Ballots show: “We’d have been returning with a majority of somewhere around 40 MPs.”
It comes after the former Tory leader, who delivered a mammoth 80-seat majority five years go, exploded onto the campaign at the 11th-hour to warn against handing Labour a super-majority.
Ms Dorries, whose book The Plot is out tomorrow, fumed: “It’s not the Tory party, because in that you include people who voted for Boris in 2019 and you include party members.
“Those Tory MPs who wanted Boris Johnson removed, who campaigned and worked – people like Kemi Badenoch.
“They are the people who carry the can for this.”
The top Boris ally, who has claimed there was a dark arts plot to oust the former PM, also revealed the energetic ex-leader had been “quite frustrating” at the error-strewn campaign.
She told Sun Political Editor Harry Cole: “It’s a shame he wasn’t allowed into the campaign earlier.
“I think what last night did was show how Boris can ignite a room, and rally a room, but rally the country too.
“And I think what it did was it showed us that actually, who is the future of the Conservative Party?
“Who is it we need to take the Conservative Party forward and to show people that we have a message and we have a winning team at the front.
“And I think the message very clearly last night came through that that was Boris Johnson.”
Asked if BoJo would consider a return, after settling in an Oxfordshire mansion with wife Carrie, Ms Dorries said: “He’s having a lot of fun and he’s earning a lot of money.
POLLING Day is almost upon us - and The Sun has got you covered with TWO live election night episodes of Never Mind The Ballots.
Our Political Editor Harry Cole will host a star-studded panel of experts live from Sun HQ at 10.15pm on Thursday for a snap reaction to the all-important exit poll.
And then we’ll be back at 8am on Friday to chew over the full results and fallout from the race for No10.
Britain could wake up to a new Prime Minister on July 5 if Sir Keir Starmer proves the polls right and cruises into Downing Street.
But might Rishi Sunak do enough to deny the Labour leader a dreaded supermajority and prevent a full-scale Tory wipeout?
For the very best analysis tune in on The Sun’s YouTube page or thesun.co.uk. You won’t want to miss it.
“I know he’s been quite frustrated at the way the campaign’s been run.
“There are people saying, ‘What a shame he didn’t get involved before.’
“This was Rishi Sunak‘s campaign run by Rishi Sunak’s team. Boris Johnson hasn’t been allowed into the campaign.
“Maybe Rishi picked up the phone at that last desperate moment.
“What a shame Rishi didn’t pick up the dusty hammer and smash that glass a while ago.”
And taking a dig at Reform leader Nigel Farage, she went on: “I think Boris Johnson last night showed everybody how much Nigel Farage looks like a second-hand car salesman.
“I think it’s really important to remind people that we don’t want a Labour supermajority, that that would be an absolute disaster.
“We will all live to regret that for the next five years and I think what Boris did last night was sent out a very important message – don’t let that happen.”
But the former Cabinet minister insisted she still wanted Rishi to win, fearing the consequences of a Sir Keir super-majority.
She said: “I am conservative and country first, it doesn’t matter who’s leading the party.
“I want the Conservative Party to win, almost more than wanting the Conservative Party to win, I am fearful of a Labour supermajority.
“I’m someone who lived through the 70s. I lived through the three-day week. I did my homework and my studying by candlelight.
“The NHS is probably not in its best position at the moment, but I remember fighting to have sheets on my ward.
“I remember the bodies not being buried, the bin bags piling up, the mass strikes. I remember having to queue outside supermarkets to buy anything.”
“I think that many of the things Keir Starmer is promising that Labour are going to do will take him into direct conflict with the unions, who are still the party’s paymasters.
“And so maybe we won’t see lorry drivers on strike, maybe we won’t see mass walkouts in the NHS, but what we will see is that a rerun of that conflict between Labour and the unions.
“And when the unions want to, and they know Labour have got a supermajority, when they want to pull their weight they will do.”
