Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told his local Conservative Party he will stand again as an MP at the next general election.
Another run as MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip would also leave the door open for him to run in a future leadership campaign if a vacancy should occur.
The Conservatives have given their MPs until Monday (5th December) to confirm whether they wish to contest the next election – which must be held by early 2025.
Mr Johnson indicated his decision ahead of Monday’s deadline for Conservative candidates to inform the party whether they wish to contest the poll, which is expected to be held in 2024.
There’s no set date for the next general election, but it must be held no later than Thursday, January 23, 2025.
So far, 11 Conservative MPs have announced they will not stand for re-election.
Mr Johnson has been the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip in west London since 2015. He was elected to the seat while he was serving as mayor of London.
Richard Mills, the chairman of his local association:
“Uxbridge and South Ruislip Conservative Association fully support Boris Johnson as our local MP and candidate at any future election.
“Since his re-election in 2019, he has delivered on his plans for redevelopment and modernisation of Hillingdon Hospital as well as increasing police numbers across Uxbridge.
“We look forward to continuing to work alongside him to deliver for the residents and communities within the constituency, where he has strong connections and involvement.”
The next election will be the fourth time Mr Johnson has run to represent the Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency.
Mr Johnson enjoyed a 7,210 vote majority after securing a 1.8% swing to the Conservatives at the 2019 election.
A Conservative Post poll in October showed 90% of party members would have voted for Boris Johnson to be back in No 10 had they been given the opportunity to vote in the recent leadership race.
The poll was emailed to 10,000 confirmed party members which is the largest database of members outside of Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ).
3932 Conservative Party members responded and voted in the poll that was conducted between the 24th and 27th October 2022. The poll read:
Dear Conservative Party Member, Please take part in our members poll so we can see how you would have voted had you had the option of Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak or Penny Mordaunt becoming the leader of the Conservative Party / Britain’s next Prime Minister. Please note only Conservative Party members (with valid membership numbers) will be included in the results.
Members were then given the option of voting for either Boris Johnson, Penny Mordaunt or Rishi Sunak. All members also had to disclose their membership number and area association before casting their vote.
The results which were overseen by experienced director of strategy and party constitutional expert Mike Rouse showed 3932 members responded with a whopping 3540 saying they would have voted for Boris Johnson given the chance. Only 173 would have voted for Penny Mordaunt and 219 would have voted for Rishi Sunak.
This equates to former Prime Minister Boris Johnson winning 90% of the members vote, current PM Rishi Sunak winning 5.6% and Penny Mordaunt winning 4.4%.
- Boris Johnson – 3540 (90.0%)
- Rishi Sunak – 219 (5.6%)
- Penny Mordaunt – 173 (4.4%)
See: Poll shows 90% of party members wanted Boris and now 58% of them WON’T vote Conservative at next GE
