Boris Johnson claims Rishi Sunak is a ‘Manchurian Candidate stooge’ who will lead Tories to defeat
Boris Johnson has said the Conservative Party is “drifting to defeat” under Rishi Sunak and needs a “massive kick in the pants”.
He also took aim at Mr Sunak by suggesting the prime minister is just a “stooge” for Mr Johnson’s former chief adviser, Dominic Cummings.
The comments are from a series of interviews Mr Johnson did with his close ally and former cabinet colleague, Nadine Dorries, for her new book, The Plot: The Political Assassination of Boris Johnson.
According to the book, Mr Johnson compared Mr Sunak with the protagonist in the political thriller about communist sleeper agents, The Manchurian Candidate.
“I heard that Cummings has said he started to plot to get rid of me in January 2020,” Mr Johnson told Ms Dorries. “The plot was always to get Rishi in. I just couldn’t see it at the time. It’s like this Manchurian Candidate, their stooge.”
He also claimed that Mr Sunak “is a front for the interests of others, including Cummings, Johnson’s former special adviser”, The Times reported.
Mr Johnson added: “You’ve got to have an agenda for change in the country. You know, people will feel hacked off.
“They voted for change in 2019 and they are drifting back to Labour in those Brexit seats because they’re not seeing a changed government. Nothing to rally behind, nothing. We are just drifting to defeat.”
Mr Johnson said he is “particularly concerned that there’s no grand economic strategy for growth,” adding: “The whole thing needs a massive kick in the pants; I think it’s all drifting. I really, really think that unless we grip it the results of the local elections will be repeated at a general election and Starmer will be a complete disaster.
“We could have kept the whole thing going if people had not prevailed upon Rishi to do something that was not fundamentally in his interest or in the best interest of the country.”
Ms Dorries dramatically quit as an MP earlier this year after she was denied a peerage in Mr Johnson’s resignation honours.
Ms Dorries was mocked by Dominic Cummings last week over claims he secretly worked to topple Mr Johnson as soon as he became prime minister.
Mr Johnson’s former chief adviser-turned-critic shared a screenshot of his response to a journalist asking him for a response to her allegations.
“She’s right, there was a giant conspiracy including MI6, the CIA and, most crucially, the KGB special operations department,” he said.
“It’s a tribute to Nadine she has figured this out.”
