Following widespread resignations by members of his government, Boris Johnson ultimately accepted that he would have to step down from his position as prime minister.
However, he still defended his record in a fiery address on Wednesday.
But when he remarked, “task mostly achieved – for now,” during his final appearance at Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons, Mr. Johnson provided a signal that he would try to make a comeback.
He would be following in the footsteps of his hero Sir Winston Churchill, who, after being ousted from Downing Street in the 1945 election, returned to the position in 1951.
When Harold Wilson’s first tenure as prime minister was ended by the defeat in the 1970 election, he accomplished the same feat before returning to office in 1974 after defeating Edward Heath to win more seats.
In addition, former Conservative Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin had three terms in office, the first from 1923 to 1924 and the final from 1935 to 1937.
But while they were absent from Downing Street, neither Baldwin, Churchill, nor Wilson gave up their positions as party leaders; instead, they remained Leaders of the Opposition.
Mr. Johnson would have to turn to another Labour Prime Minister from the 20th century, Ramsay Macdonald, for direct inspiration. Macdonald succeeded as PM despite losing his seat as an MP and being ousted as Labour leader.
Following his seat loss in 1918, MacDonald served his first term as Labour leader from 1911 to 1914.
He then returned to the House of Commons in 1922. Shortly after, he returned to becoming the PM and was elected Labour leader.
Many prime ministers have held office more than once dating back to the 19th century, with William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli being two of the most noteworthy.
Gladstone held the position of prime minister four times, the last three following his resignation as party leader and subsequent comeback.
In his farewell Commons speech as prime minister earlier this week, Mr. Johnson stated: “It is true that I assisted in obtaining the largest Tory majority in 40 years and a significant realignment in UK politics.
As my right hon. Friend adds, “We have altered our democracy and recovered our national independence.”
We helped this country survive a pandemic and I helped save another country from barbarism, he said.
Sincerely, that is enough to continue with. Mission substantially completed for the time being.
His final words were “hasta la vista, baby.
“The remark appeared to be an allusion to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s iconic “I’ll be back” line from the Terminator movies.
Mr. Johnson’s final remarks before leaving added fuel to rumors that he could try to enter politics again.
After being questioned about Mr. Johnson’s closing words during PMQs, the PM’s press secretary responded, “That was his way of saying farewell to his colleagues.”
After Mr. Johnson declared his intention to step down as Conservative leader and prime minister, rumors started to circulate that he may try to run for party leader.
His spokeswoman then insisted that the allegations were completely false.
One of individuals who brought the allegations forward was journalist Petronella Wyatt, who had a relationship with Mr. Johnson while they both worked at the Spectator magazine.
According to a source at Number 10, Boris Johnson plans to resign as prime minister on Monday in order to run for the Tory party’s leadership, she claimed.
Even if he had wanted to run, he couldn’t have because of Conservative party rules.
Political historian Tim Bale responded to the idea that he would make a comeback by saying, “I suppose you’d have to go back to the 19th century to find somebody coming in and out [without remaining as party leader]”
“Certainly, you don’t see people making comebacks in this fashion in the 20th century.”
Even Winston Churchill, Johnson’s greatest hero, hasn’t accomplished what is being said:
Despite his referral to the Commons privileges committee over the partygate incident, Professor Bale acknowledged that a comeback was both feasible and unlikely.
He also stated that this would be a significant roadblock.
According to a committee report released on Thursday, if Mr. Johnson is judged to have lied to MPs, he may have to run in a byelection in his Uxbridge district.
This week, Dominic Cummings, a former top assistant to Mr. Johnson, claimed that the PM is backing Foreign Secretary Liz Truss’s bid for the leadership because he believes “she’ll blow and he can make a comeback.”
After Neville Chamberlain was compelled to resign in May 1940, Churchill was elected prime minister for the first time.
Churchill’s Conservative Party lost the 1945 election, despite the fact that he afterwards led Britain to victory in the Second World War and enjoyed immense popularity across the nation.
The welfare state was established by the new Labour administration, which was headed by Clement Attlee, a member of his War Cabinet.
Churchill, who had served as Conservative leader for more than five years while the party was in opposition, was re-elected as prime minister when Labour ultimately lost the 1951 election.
He stayed in Downing Street for a further four years before he left for the second and final time in April of 1955 as a result of a stroke he had that year.
Wilson first assumed the position of prime minister in October 1964 and held it until June 1970, when Edward Heath’s Conservatives won the election that year.
After serving as his party’s leader for four years, the Labour politician left Downing Street in March 1974 and returned.
He abruptly left office in the middle of his second term, allowing James Callaghan to take office as prime minister in April 1976.
Although Baldwin’s first term as prime minister began in 1923, it only lasted until 1924, when he called an election that Labour won.
Ramsay Macdonald of Labour then made his first appearance in Downing Street, but he only served as prime minister for nine months before losing the 1924 election.
Baldwin then held the position of prime minister for a second time, from 1924 until 1929, when he narrowly lost the vote.
Once again serving as prime minister, Macdonald held that position until 1935, when Baldwin took over and won the election that year.
Then, Baldwin held the position of PM for a further two years before stepping down in favor of Neville Chamberlain.
Gladstone’s first of a record four terms as prime minister began in 1868 and ended in 1874.
He therefore resigned from his position as Liberal Party leader, but in 1880 he came back and was elected prime minister once more.
Five years later, in 1885, his second term in government came to a close.
The only five months of Gladstone’s third term as prime minister were from February to July 1886.
The seasoned politician then held office from 1892 to 1894 for his final term.
When he was finally appointed, he was 82 years old.
For the first time, Disraeli, a fierce adversary of Gladstone, held the position of prime minister from February 1868 until December 1868.
Before Gladstone’s Liberals won the 1880 election, he returned to Downing Street in February 1874 and served there for just over six years.