Labour ‘fearing the worst’ if Boris Johnson mounts a comeback: Sir Keir Starmer would face a ‘much tougher electoral’ challenge, party sources warn, as ministers ‘carefully monitor’ the ex-PM’s movements

• Labour is currently monitoring the former prime minister’s activities carefully
• Labour have fuelled concerns it is dragging out controversial Partygate inquiry 
• Read: Boris Johnson guns for Sunak in TalkTV appearance with Nadine Dorries

Sir Keir Starmer would face a ‘much tougher electoral challenge’ if Boris Johnson returned as Tory leader, Labour sources have warned.

Two shadow cabinet ministers told the Daily Mail that the party was monitoring the former prime minister’s activities carefully, amid speculation that he could mount a comeback.

One warned that Mr Johnson’s return could pose Labour significant problems at the ballot box.

‘Boris would be a much tougher electoral challenge, even now,’ the source said.

‘Even if the Partygate inquiry finds he lied I don’t think it would make much difference to the way he’s viewed by some voters because it’s priced in – they don’t care.

One shadow cabinet minister warned that Mr Johnson’s return could pose Labour significant problems at the ballot box

‘He did what everyone thought was impossible at the last election and persuaded two million people who don’t vote to turn out.

‘Those people probably won’t come to us next time but without Boris to energise them they won’t go to the Tories either – they will probably just stay at home. That is going to be a massive factor at the election.’ 

A second source said that Mr Johnson’s return would not necessarily boost the Conservatives’ prospects, but would harm Labour.

‘Boris would give us much more trouble in the Red Wall because he has an appeal there that Sunak can’t match,’ the source said. ‘Whether it would help them overall I don’t know because he would cost them a lot of votes in the South.

‘The problem for us is that the main beneficiaries of that might end up being the Lib Dems, not us.’

Mr Johnson’s former chief of staff Lord Udny-Lister fuelled speculation about a potential comeback this week by claiming he still has a ‘route back’ to power.

‘I would never say never about Boris Johnson,’ he said. ‘Never would I say that, because I think he has such tremendous skills. And I think there is a route back for him.’ But a Cabinet minister accused Labour of ‘mischief-making’, adding: ‘Boris’s polling numbers at the end were dire – it was part of the reason he had to go.’

The source said: ‘I’m not surprised Labour want to stir up the idea that he’s some sort of massive threat.

A second source said that Mr Johnson’s return would not necessarily boost the Conservatives’ prospects, but would harm Labour. Pictured: Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer

‘But he’s not coming back. The parliamentary party, bar a few acolytes, does not want him back. This is just mischief-making by Labour.’

The Labour analysis of the threat posed by Mr Johnson will fuel concerns that it could seek to drag out the controversial Partygate inquiry in order to keep him tied down. 

The investigation by Parliament’s privileges committee is considering whether Mr Johnson misled MPs when he denied that parties had been held in Downing Street during the Covid lockdowns.

The inquiry was launched in April last year but has still not held a single evidence session with witnesses.

It is being led by Labour’s former deputy leader Harriet Harman, who has publicly criticised Mr Johnson’s conduct, leading Tory critics to complain that the former prime minister is facing a ‘kangaroo court’.

If the committee finds him guilty it could recommend Mr Johnson is suspended from Parliament, potentially forcing him to fight a difficult by-election in his west London constituency.

Mr Johnson has insisted he did not mislead Parliament over Partygate.

The former prime minister said this week: ‘Anybody who thinks I was knowingly going to parties that were breaking lockdown rules in No 10, and then knowingly covering up parties that were illicit that other people were going to, that’s all strictly for the birds.’

He added: ‘And if anybody thinks like that, they’re out of their mind… we all thought what we were doing – or certainly, I thought what we were doing – was within the rules.’

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