Boris’s backers are circling. But ‘Sunak the snake’ has defanged the right

The prime minister’s critics demanding a ‘true Brexit’ and ‘real Conservatism’ are arguing themselves into irrelevance, writes John Rentoul

Rishi Sunak has nothing to fear from the Bring Back Boris crowd (PA)

The promotional material for the Bring Back Boris rally in Bournemouth on Saturday looks closer to that for those glitzy Christian stadium events where the faithful prepare for the Rapture. Photos of the star speakers are arrayed at the top of the webpage against a black background. The big beasts are all up in lights: Nadine Dorries, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Priti Patel and Peter Cruddas, the Tory peer who is organising the “Take Control Conference and gala dinner”.

It is not actually called the Bring Back Boris rally, but it might as well be. It is run by the Conservative Democratic Organisation, a grassroots group agitating for more power for Conservative Party members. The CDO says it is not a Johnson fan club, and the man himself is not expected to attend, but eight bottles of plonk signed by him are up for grabs. Andrea Jenkyns, MP for Morley and Outwood and co-chair of the European Research Group, will be singing the national anthem. Clearly, it’s dinner and a show.

The demand for more power to the members seems to be code for saying that Johnson was ousted by a cabal of MPs and would have been restored to the premiership if his name had been put to a vote of the wider party. No matter that Johnson could have put himself forward for a vote of party members if he had wanted to in October and chose not to, accepting that it “would not work” to try to govern without the support of two-thirds of Tory MPs. For the true believers, the blame for that lies with Tory MPs and not with the only rightful prime minister across the water.