Tories will feel the sting of Johnson's lust for power

Oh dear. The Boris Bandwagon is rolling again. He's putting himself about, laying off the lecture circuit and the beach vacations - he's made about £1m since he was kicked out and his acolytes are bigging him up.

- SEAN O'GRADY

None more so than Nadine Dorries, who has proved her devotion to the lost leader. Also in Johnson's corner is the Conservative Democratic Organisation - backed by prominent Johnson supporters Priti Patel and the Tory donor Lord Cruddas which MPs fear is a front for the Bring Back Boris movement.

They want the grassroots members only to choose the leader not MPs - which won't happen until they go into opposition, but they'll be keeping up the pressure til then. Nads wrote at the weekend that without Boris, the Conservatives are finished, adding that "nothing has gone right for us since the day they removed Boris Johnson".

Johnsonologists can read the signs already, and it's plain the old rogue is on manoeuvres again. A prime ministerial-style new year broadcast on social media. A semi-loyal speech at the Tories' Carlton Club, where a flattering new portrait was unveiled. "I've been framed," he quipped and he dished out the usual sub-Churchillian rhetoric for the fans: "Never give in, keep fighting, keep backing the government - keep making the case for levelling up, for opportunities and for a dynamic low-tax global Britain... There is no desire to vote for Keir Starmer, for Sir Crasheroonie Snoozefest."