Boris Johnson was unleashed as the Conservative’s secret weapon tonight, joining Rishi Sunak on stage as the party tries to wade off Labour’s projected supermajority that would see the country ‘lurch in diametrically the wrong direction’.
As Brits prepare to go to the polls in less than 48 hours, the Conservatives have pulled out their secret weapon in a last ditch bid to cling on to blue seats.
Appearing at a late-night Tory rally with Mr Sunak in central London, the former prime minister called on supporters to return to the fold and stem a Labour landslide ‘pregnant with horrors’.
Although he hinted at past ‘differences’ with his successor, the Daily Mail columnist insisted he ‘could not say no’ when Mr Sunak asked for his help.
In an impassioned speech in London, Mr Johnson urged voters flirting with Reform to ‘draw back from the brink’ and prevent Keir Starmer securing a ‘sledgehammer majority’.
‘If you actually want higher taxes – if you feel you have a few thousand to spare – then vote Labour on Thursday,’ he added.
‘If you want uncontrolled immigration, and mandatory wokery, and pointless low-towing to Brussels, then go right ahead and vote for Starmer.
‘But if you want to protect our democracy and our economy and keep this country strong abroad by spending 2.5 per cent of our GDP on defence, then the only way to do that is to vote Conservative on Thursday.’
Boris Johnson made a surprise appearance to welcome Rishi Sunak onto stage tonight as the Tories try wade off Labour ‘s projected supermajority
Throughout his impassioned speech the ex-PM urged the public not to vote for a Labour Party ‘pregnant with horrors’
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pictured arriving at the rally tonight in central London
Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson raise a pint on a visit to a London brewery in 2021 – before Mr Johnson was deposed as Prime Minister
A new MRP study by Survation, published within the final 48 hours of campaigning, predicted Labour would win 484 seats at this week’s general election
The former Prime Minister walked into a crowded room where he was given a huge round of applause and welcomed with dozens of people chanting his name.
Mr Johnson began his attack on the Labour Party by making at a dig at Sir Keir Starmer saying it was ‘way past his bedtime’ after the Opposition leader admitted he avoids working past 6pm on Fridays.
Mr Johnson told the audience a Labour government would increase taxes and would not stand up to Vladimir Putin.
‘They will scrap the Rwanda plan,’ he said before describing Labour MPs as ‘Kremlin crawlers’.
Mr Johnson criticised Sir Keir Starmer for not being able to explain ‘the difference between a man and a woman’. ‘He sits there with his mouth open like a stunned mullet,’ he said.
The ex-PM spoke after former cabinet minister and outgoing MP Michael Gove also urged the public not to vote for ‘Corbyn-hugging’ Starmer.
Mr Gove told the audience that the ‘safe and secure [vote] is with Rishi as our Prime Minister in an uncertain world we cannot risk the alternative’.
‘What has Keir Starmer ever done for us? He’s a man who twice argued that Jeremy Corbyn should be our prime ministers,’ Mr Gove added.
The former Prime Minister walked into a crowded room where he was given a huge round of applause and welcomed with dozens of people chanting his name
Mr Johnson told the audience a Labour government would increase taxes and would not stand up to Vladimir Putin
The ex-PM spoke after former cabinet minister and outgoing MP Michael Gove also urged the public not to vote for ‘Corbyn-hugging’ Starmer
The Survation model, based on polling data from more than 30,000 voters, forecast the Tories would be reduced to just 64 seats in the House of Commons
As he entered the rally, Mr Sunak told the audience ‘Isn’t it great to have our Conservative family united, my friends?’
‘This Corbyn hugging, flip-flopping should, tax raising politician should never be allowed near number 10. He’s the jellyfish of the world of politics, transparent, spineless and swept along by any incoming tide.’
Tory strategists hope that Mr Johnson’s dramatic eve of poll intervention will electrify a flagging campaign and galvanise former Conservative voters to keep the faith when they head to the polls tomorrow.
The former PM has used his weekly Daily Mail column to launch lacerating attacks on Sir Keir and Labour, and has produced social media endorsements and letters of support for Tory candidates in key seats. But until now he has otherwise kept a low profile on the campaign trail.
This evening Mr Johnson hinted at past ‘differences’ with Mr Sunak but said he was ‘glad when the PM asked for help, and I could not say no’.
He added: ‘We are here because we love our country, and whatever our differences they are utterly trivial by comparison with the disaster we face if these opinion polls are right.’
Following his speech, Mr Johnson welcomed the Prime Minister onto the stage who urged voters not to ‘surrender to Labour’ and ‘fight for every vote’.
The Prime Minister onto the stage urged voters not to ‘surrender to Labour’ and ‘fight for every vote’
The Prime Minister outside the venue ahead of his rally in central London tonight
Addressing tensions between himself and Mr Johnson – as well as wider strains within the Tory party – he told the audience: ‘Isn’t it great to have our Conservative family united, my friends?’
‘Just think, just think, it was just the other day when Keir Starmer was saying that Jeremy Corbyn would have been a better prime minister than Boris,’ he added.
‘Shameful. Can you imagine what that would have meant for Ukraine? What it would have meant for our country’s security, our defence, the damage it would have done to our economy?’
He concluded his speech by telling the audience: ‘I love my country. My story would not be possible in any other country.’
Mr Johnson’s appearance was a closely-guarded secret known only to a tiny handful of No10 officials. Even cabinet ministers attending tonight’s rally were kept in the dark.
The PM kicked off a final push for votes with a pre-dawn visit to an Ocado packing plant in Bedfordshire
Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak pictured together leaving Downing Street in 2020
Mr Sunak and Mr Johnson pictured together during Prime Minister’s questions
Tonight a friend of Mr Johnson said: ‘Boris loves the Conservative party and has always believed in being a big person. So when the call came to help, of course he answered.
‘He’s hoping that if he can give the Tories such fulsome backing after the way he’s been treated by the party other disgruntled supporters will do the same too.’
He appeared on stage after outgoing MP and former cabinet member Michael Gove
His intervention came as:
- Mr Sunak said that just 130,000 voters in marginal seats could change the course of the election and prevent an ‘unchecked’ Labour government.
- Polling by Lord Ashcroft suggested Labour’s huge lead could be trimmed to single figures if Tory voters return to the fold in the next 48 hours.
- Home Secretary James Cleverly branded Labour’s immigration plans a ‘con job’ and warned the party would introduce an amnesty for tens of thousands of illegal migrants.
- Sir Keir insisted a Labour landslide would bring stability and be ‘better for the country’.
- Another Reform candidate defected to the Tories with a blast at the ‘racist, misogynistic, and bigoted’ views of other senior figures.
- The PM and Labour leader spent the day criss-crossing the country in a bid to energise supporters to get out and vote tomorrow.
Mr Johnson tonight said he had doubts about whether polls showing a giant Labour majority were accurate, saying he had faith that people would ‘still show more sense on Thursday’.
But he said traditional Conservatives ‘cannot just sit back as a Labour government prepares to use a sledgehammer majority to destroy so much of what we achieved’.
He warned that Sir Keir would water down Brexit, restore free movement and ‘make us nothing but the punk of Brexit – taking EU law, but with no say in how it is made’.
Campaigning in the East Midlands today, Sir Keir Starmer said the attack on his working habits was ‘bordering on hysterical’
As the election battle enters its penultimate day, the PM visited an Ocado plant in Bedfordshire before 5am
And he warned a Labour agenda would involve ‘whacking up taxes on pensions and property, persecuting private enterprise, attacking private education and private healthcare – with all the pointless extra burden that will place on the taxpayer’.
He mocked Sir Keir as the former ‘disciple’ of Jeremy Corbyn who is so in thrall to Left-wing activists that he looks like a ‘stunned mullet’ when asked to explain what a woman is.
And he savaged Nigel Farage for his praise of Vladimir Putin’s skills as a political operator.
Mr Johnsons warned that Reform ‘can achieve nothing in this election except to usher in the most left-wing Labour government since the war, with a huge majority,’ adding: ‘Don’t let the Putinistas deliver the Corbynistas.’
Mr Johnson’s appearance attracted criticism from the opposing parties.
The Lib Dems deputy leader Daisy Cooper said tonight: ‘This is an insult to everyone who made heartbreaking sacrifices during the pandemic.
‘Rishi Sunak has reached a desperate new low, turning to a man who discredited the office of Prime Minister and lied to the country time after time.
‘It is time to boot out this tired and sleaze-ridden Conservative Party, and elect Liberal Democrat MPs who will stand up for their communities.’
A series of polls today showed that Labour’s poll lead is being squeezed as Reform’s vote falls back – but suggested Sir Keir remains on course for a landslide majority.
One Tory insider said: ‘The squeeze is on, but it is very late.’ A Redfield and Wilton Strategies survey of 20,000 voters found that Labour’s lead had been trimmed by four points, but left them still 19 points ahead of the Conservatives.
Polling by Lord Ashcroft published by the Mail today also gives Labour a 19-point lead, with Labour’s overall support dipping to 38 per cent – less than Jeremy Corbyn achieved in 2017.
But a mega poll by Survation found that Labour were now ’99 per cent’ certain to get a bigger landslide than Tony Blair in 1997.
The survey of more than 30,000 people, predicted that Labour will win a record 484 seats, with the Conservatives reduced to a rump of just 64, narrowly ahead of a rejuvenated Lib Dems on 61. Reform could get 16 per cent of the vote but win just seven seats, the poll found.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Mr Cleverly said voters worried about the threat of a Labour supermajority can still turn out tomorrow and ‘make the opinion polls wrong’.
He acknowledged that some people want to ‘punish’ the government after tough few years marred by Covid and the war in Ukraine.
But warned he warned those considering Reform that the urge to give the government a ‘slap’ could lead to ’15 years hard Labour’ if they split the vote and give Labour a supermajority.’
‘The vast bulk of votes have not been cast – you can decide what future you want. You can make the opinion polls wrong,’ he said.
‘The scale of the ‘hovering pencil’ cohort means the outcome is nowhere near as definitive as some of the commentary has suggested.’ He said those toying with a vote for Reform to send a message to the Conservatives should consider whether ‘the message you are looking to send, is worth five, 10, 15 years of hard Labour?’
The PM dismissed suggestions the outcome of the election was a ‘foregone conclusion’ and said he was ‘feeling energised’ with two days to go
Mr Sunak purchased McDonald’s breakfast for reporters from a Beaconsfield service station in Buckinghamshire
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey fell from a surfboard in Bude, Cornwall, as he continued his stunt-filled campaign
In a speech today, Mr Sunak will urge voters worried about a big Labour majority to take action to prevent it.
‘If you are worried about an unchecked, unaccountable Labour government you can stop that by offering us your support so we can stand up for you and be your voice in the next Parliament,’ he will say.
‘Your vote will determine whether your MP is just another addition to Starmer’s supermajority or a local champion, someone who cares about you and will fight for your area and its needs.
‘Do you want an MP who holds the Government to account or one who just unthinkingly backs Keir Starmer and whatever he wants to do?’
Mr Johnson’s appearance comes as Sunak began a 48 hour whirlwind tour across the country in desperate appeal to the public as pollsters project that on Thursday, Keir Starmer could win a bigger majority than Tony Blair’s landslide win in 1997.
Kicking off the last two days of campaigning, the current Tory leader claimed all the party needed was 130,000 votes to make the difference.
‘It’s not over until it’s over,’ Mr Sunak brazenly told downbeat supporters and party activists as they approach the finishing line of a grueling six-week drive for votes.
His motivating words echoed that of Johnson’s who last week jumped up to the aid of his former Chancellor telling voters ‘it’s not too late’.
Starmer on the final days of the campaign trail today
The final MRP study by Survation today, published within the last 48 hours of campaigning, predicted Labour would win 484 seats at this week’s general election
Sunak pictured on the final blitz of his campaigning rally
‘There is still time between now and Thursday for the nation to swerve from the cliff edge,’ Daily Mail columnist Mr Johnson wrote on Friday. ‘We can collectively come to our senses. We can dodge the bullet.’
The former PM, who resigned almost two years ago, went on to attack Starmer’s own ‘shockingly low’ approval ratings.
Mr Johnson added: ‘Britain is about to jump the points and jink left, abruptly, in what could be a Left-wing socialist supremacy that lasts for a decade or more.
‘And yet Starmer’s own approval ratings are shockingly low – the lowest ever for an Opposition leader on the verge of entering Downing Street, let alone of a triumph on the scale currently predicted. Poll after poll says the same.’
Mr Johnson’s appearance with Mr Sunak comes after the current PM welcomed his predecessor to join him on the campaign trail.
Earlier this year Mr Sunak said the ex-PM could join him as he tries to build support for the Tories.
Diffusing any concerns of a rift between the two leaders, Mr Sunak told The Sun’s Never Mind the Ballots show that he had been in touch with the ex-PM at the end of last year.
He said in April – months before he announced the election date: ‘I spoke to him in person at the end of last year and we’ve messaged since then as well.’
Asked if he would be invited to campaign on doorsteps and in the streets of Britain for the Tories, Mr Sunak added: ‘That’s a question for him.
‘Anyone from the Conservative family who wants to see a Conservative re-elected and who doesn’t think Keir Starmer is the right person to lead our country will be welcome on the campaign trail.
‘Ultimately that’s the choice. It’s Keir Starmer or me as Prime Minister after the next election.
‘If you want to keep cutting taxes, a more sensible approach to net zero, if you want to tackle illegal migration, then we are the people to do that for you.’
The final MRP study by Survation today, published within the last 48 hours of campaigning, predicted Labour would win 484 seats at this week’s general election.
The model, based on polling data from more than 30,000 voters, forecast the Tories would be reduced to just 64 seats in the House of Commons.It means the Tories would scrape into being the official Opposition, with the Lib Dems predicted to win 61 seats.
