Petition to reinstate Boris Johnson as leader amid uncertainty over Liz Truss’s future gathers pace

Thousands of people have signed a petition calling for Boris Johnson to be reinstated as leader of the Conservative Party, amid new Prime Minister Liz Truss’ plummeting approval ratings.

Johnson, 58, who reportedly set up a family home on the border of Herne Hill after leaving Downing Street, announced that he would be leaving his role as the leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the UK in July.

During his official resignation speech, Johnson said: “It is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader of that party and therefore a new prime minister.”

A ‘Bring Back Boris’ petition is gathering momentum after being signed by more than 15,000 Conservative Party members and supporters in its first two days.

The petition, which was launched by Conservative Post, claims that the former Prime Minister was “undemocratically ousted by a small cabal of MPs.”

It continues: “We the undersigned believe Boris is the only person who can save us from electoral catastrophe at the next General Election and demand he be given the opportunity to see out the manifesto we the people voted for.”

The Conservative Post Petition states that it will give all the signatures and messages directly to the Conservative Party Chairman, Jake Berry, on 15th November.

New PM, Liz Truss, 47, has seen plummeting approval ratings following her mini-budget U-turn with ex-Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng - who has since been replaced by Jeremy Hunt.

Truss has apologised to Parliament and admitted to having made mistakes in her short time as the United Kingdom’s head of government.

She has declared that she is “a fighter and not a quitter” amid backlash and opposition from members of her own party. Truss is now fighting for survival with some Tory MPs calling for her to be forced out after her chaotic start in the role.

Currently the petition can be accessed on The Conservative Post’s website.

To sign it, you must provide your personal details, membership number (if you are a member of the party) and the option to add further comments.

According to The Conservative Post’s official Facebook page, as of Tuesday18 October, the petition reached nearly 15,000 signatures.

Former Conservative Party politician MP David Campbell Bannerman, mentioned the petition during an appearance on Good Morning Britain.

He said: “Boris is still very popular amongst members and all the polls show that the public still likes Boris. Boris is the only alternative.”

The Conservative Party’s 1922 Committee of MPs detail that a Prime Minister can’t face a confidence vote during their first year in office.

After this time, the parliamentary party would have to submit their letters of no confidence to the chairman of the Committee. Then a vote can be held, which needs at least 50% of Tory MPs to vote “no confidence” for a PM to lose.

However, now due to the backlash against the Prime Minister, there has been speculation that Conservative MPs could change the rules.

Social media users have been divided if Boris Johnson should replace Liz Truss, with some taking to Twitter arguing that a new candidate should be given a chance to do the role.

One person wrote: “What happened to all those talented prospective leadership candidates ? Just a couple of weeks ago the Cons were crowing about their squad strength compared with Labours. You aren’t suggesting that was complete bull ?”

Another said: “No sorry. I backed him to the hilt during #partygate but we now need someone more rightwing than Boris to steer the ship successfully through the turbulence of global economic downturn. Boris, for all his dynamism on Brexit, is too liberal and centre leaning for me.”

A third added: “No never. Sorry. A PM of any country must have integrity and a moral standing. Just you cannot find a suitable candidate you cannot push him back as leader. Simply unacceptable.A general election is the natural choice where the British public decide not a handful of Conservatives”