Rebels with a cause
Excl: Expelled Tory rebels plotting to oust Boris Johnson as an MP by running a candidate against him in his Uxbridge marginal seathttps://t.co/inaQ9St31N
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) September 12, 2019
Will the voters in Uxbridge & South Ruislip practise safe X to avoid waking up with a blonde and deep regrets the morning after the next GE?
EXPELLED Tory rebels are plotting to oust Boris Johnson as an MP by running a candidate against him, The Sun can reveal.
Former Tory leadership rival Rory Stewart is being urged by some of the 21 rebels to stand against the PM in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency.
The Prime Minister is defending a slimmed-down majority of just 5,034 in the Middlesex seat, leaving him already at risk.
A well-known Tory Remainer running against Mr Johnson could split the Conservative vote and hand Labour the seat, abruptly ending Boris’s premiership too.
The extraordinary plot would only be enacted if Mr Johnson still had a No Deal Brexit on the table going into the next General Election.
A Tory rebel source said: “There is an active discussion about running someone against Boris.
“It’s the nuclear option, but we would do it if we have to.”
Fellow Old Etonian Rory Stewart is a bitter critic of the PM’s and built a large public following for his repeated clashes with Boris during the summer leadership campaign.
Mr Stewart confirmed the suggestion has been put to him.
But he told The Sun tonight: “I would never run against Boris Johnson in his own constituency.
“I am hoping to bring the Conservative Party back to the centre ground. I remain loyal to it, I am not trying to destroy it”.
Ex-Cabinet minister Amber Rudd, who resigned the Tory whip in protest over Mr Johnson’s Brexit strategy this week, is also aware of the plot.
But she has also ruled out running against Boris in Uxbridge as the pair were long-standing friends.
The pro-Jeremy Corbyn Momentum pressure group have already unveiled plans to throw an avalanche of resources into Boris’s constituency in a bid to oust him.
As the old Klingon proverb says ‘Revenge is a dish best served cold’ and boy would this be cold by Tory rebels, with Rory Stewart confirming the provenance of this story I suspect this may not be something Dominic Cummings has war-gamed.
I think it may happen if the Tories form a pact with the Brexit Party so you can vote for a genuine Tory and not a Brexit Party Lite Tory. With the shifting demographics in London towards Remain leaning voters and Boris Johnson & Brexit being very polarising I can see Boris Johnson’s majority being slashed to an uncomfortable level.
If the centre left are serious about winning the seat they should form a pact to oust the Prime Minister whilst the notional centre right slug it out. It would be the epitome of the bizarre political situation we find ourselves in if the sitting Prime Minister lost his seat.
Lib Dems have gone from 50/1 to 12/1 to win Boris Johnson's seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
Any chance Labour could step aside? pic.twitter.com/057HbKHA8K— Ladbrokes Politics (@LadPolitics) September 13, 2019
My own view is if Boris Johnson is looking vulnerable in Uxbridge & South Ruislip he will amend the Tory rules and do a chicken run to a safer seat, there’s one in Orpington available, he certainly has the chutzpah to do so.