Boris’s ‘ratty rat’ rage against Rishi Sunak could help bring the Tory government down

The prime minister is trying to avoid all-out war with his predecessor, writes John Rentoul

Johnson promoted Sunak and is said to have been furious when his protégé resigned as chancellor (PA)

Prime ministers tend to resent their successors, but Boris Johnson’s feud with Rishi Sunak is more poisonous than most. Johnson has not forgiven Sunak for resigning as chancellor and triggering the avalanche of ministerial resignations that swept him from office.

Relations were bad before then, although Sunak has never been explicit about what it was about their approaches to the economy that were “fundamentally too different”, which he said contributed to his resignation.

Since then, Sunak has tried to avoid open warfare, well aware that Johnson has strong support among the grassroots members of the Conservative Party. That attempt at de-escalation seemed to be working. Only one in five Tory members now say that Johnson should take over as prime minister again before the next election, according to a self-selected straw poll for Conservative Home.