‘Boris will be back!’: Social media explodes with memes calling for a return of Boris Johnson – from Top Gun to Lord of the Rings and Terminator
- Liz Truss became the shortest serving Prime Minister in history on Thursday
- Boris Johnson is now poised as a serious leadership contender for Tory leader
- Social media has been exploding with memes – some calling to ‘bring back Boris’
- Others argue the ‘bar is low’ if Boris coming back seems like an improvement
Social media is exploding with memes calling for a return of Boris Johnson following the dramatic resignation of Liz Truss – using references from Top Gun, Lord of the Rings and Terminator.
The hashtag #BringBackBoris is trending on social media with hundreds voicing their support for the axed PM just six weeks after he left No 10, forced out by his own MPs after one scandal too many.
Mr Johnson’s face was superimposed onto multiple snippets of scenes from the Top Gun movies in order to depict him as the hero the UK needs to escape this mess.
One shared a photo of Mr Johnson on the cover of The Lord of the Rings ‘The Return of the King’. Another replaced the well known ‘keep calm and carry on’ slogan with ‘keep calm and bring back Boris’.
One supporter said: ‘The country never lost confidence in Boris. The party did. It’s time he returned.’
Another added: ‘Boris is on his way back to save the UK, he’ll rise from the ashes like a phoenix. And we will all live happily ever after.’
The former prime minister, who is is reported to be jetting back from the Caribbean, has not announced plans to stand for leader, but is believed to have the backing of dozens of MPs.
But social media has been flooded with memes on both sides of the argument since yesterday – with many calling to ‘bring back Boris’ but others saying ‘no, not again.’
The hashtag #BringBackBoris is trending on social media with hundreds of voters voicing their support for the axed PM
While many are excited at the prospect of Mr Johnson’s triumphant return to the top job, others have voiced concerns.
‘The country needs stability, not scandal,’ one critic said.
‘Integrity, market confidence, support for the most needy. Oh and there’s no money left thanks to him and Truss. Johnson is not anything that this country needs.’
Another said: ‘Boris Johnson?! Are you having a laugh? Picking a new Tory leader is like picking the best toilet on the last day of a festival.’
‘Imagine the bar being so low that Boris Johnson coming back actually seems like an improvement in some people’s eyes,’ one critic tweeted.
Another said: ‘You call for a return to ‘mature politics’ and return of Boris Johnson with straight face? Johnson? The man who prefers quips, winks, and punchlines over debate, meetings and preparation?’
Twitter is alight with debate on both sides of the argument. While many are excited at the thought of Mr Johnson’s triumphant return to the top job, others have voiced concern
Ukraine officially backed Boris Johnson to return as Prime Minister yesterday. Amid mounting speculation Mr Johnson is poised as a likely contender to replace Ms Truss, the official Twitter account for Ukraine released a statement on Thursday which read: ‘Better call Boris’.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Mr Johnson shared a particularly close relationship during the former PM’s time in office, owing primarily to his outspoken support of Ukraine after the Russian invasion.
Throughout Mr Johnson’s messy departure from No. 10, Mr Zelensky hailed him as a ‘true friend’ who ‘acted swiftly and resolutely’ to offer support during the crisis.
Mr Zelensky said the UK was his country’s ‘dearest friend and closest ally’ under Mr Johnson, and praised the PM’s ‘courage and determination’ in championing support for Ukraine.
Amid mounting speculation Mr Johnson is poised as a likely contender to replace Ms Truss, the official Twitter account for Ukraine released a statement which read: ‘Better call Boris’
Now, it’s looking increasingly likely the pair will be able to continue their professional relationship
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Mr Johnson shared a particularly close relationship during the former PM’s time in office, owing primarily to his outspoken support of Ukraine after the Russian invasion
Inside the close friendship between Boris Johnson and Volodymyr Zelensky
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made no secret of the high esteem in which he held Boris Johnson during his time as Prime Minister.
Mr Zelensky said the UK was his country’s ‘dearest friend and closest ally’ under Mr Johnson, and praised the PM’s ‘courage and determination’ in championing support for Ukraine.
Mr Zelensky thanked Boris for walking with him through the streets of Kyiv in April, and again on Ukraine’s independence day.
‘Boris Johnson, as his nation’s envoy, was with us, welcomed by ordinary Ukrainians,’ he said. ‘We even started to address him, warmly and humorously, as ‘Boris Johnsoniuk’ – a Ukrainian-sounding surname if you put a stress on the last syllable.’
The Ukrainian leader praised the UK’s ‘unwavering’ support and ongoing financial and humanitarian aid, as well as its introduction of sanctions against Russia.
He added: ‘But I believe in the power of personal leadership. I know it has not been an easy ride for Boris Johnson as he had to deal with many internal challenges. Prioritising support for Ukraine demanded a great courage and determination.’
He said upon Boris’ messy exit: ‘I sincerely wish that Boris’s legacy be preserved.’
‘At every meeting and conversation Boris had one very good question, ‘What else? What else do you need?’,’ he said. ‘It became our watchword, guaranteeing effective progress and movement forward.’
It comes after the Conservative Party announced would-be successors would need to win nominations from 100 MPs to get on the ballot.
The threshold means that realistically a maximum of three can make it into a vote, and that there could be a simple coronation of a winner if they get far more than that.
According to the ConservativeHome tally, Mr Sunak is the current front runner with 35 openly declared, while Mr Johnson has 19 and Ms Mordaunt 11.
While Mr Johnson has been publicly backed by some MPs to run to return to power, including his former culture secretary Nadine Dorries, several others said they don’t believe he will reach the threshold.
One said the ‘brutal truth’ is he is likely to get no more than 60 – leaving some of his close friends to advise him not to run. He also remains on holiday in the Caribbean and faces a race against time to return and launch an effective campaign.
However in a boost to his chances, the final two candidates will go head-to-head in a final online vote by party members next Friday.
Mr Johnson remains popular with the Tory grassroots and could win such a vote, and allies say he would be able to ‘honestly say’ he has a mandate for government, and has the ability to ‘turn the tide and avert the disaster of a Labour government’.
But it remains unclear whether he can reach the 100 threshold, or whether a figure from the Tory right could stand and risk splitting the vote.
The technicalities of the party vote has not stopped the public from voicing an opinion.
Diehard loyalist Nadine Dorries, the former culture secretary, said she had spoken to Mr Johnson following Ms Truss’s resignation and hinted strongly that he was preparing to run.
‘He is a known winner and that is certainly who I’m putting my name against because I want us to win the general election. Having a winner in place is what the party needs to survive,’ she told Sky News.
Veteran backbencher Sir Roger Gale, a long-time critic of Mr Johnson, however warned that if he succeeds he could be met with a wave of resignations by Tory MPs.
‘I think that there would be people, indeed like myself, who would find ourselves in the awful position of having to resign the Conservative whip,’ he told Times Radio.
For critics, a comeback would be particularly problematic as Mr Johnson still faces an investigation by the Commons Privileges Committee over claims he lied to Parliament over lockdown parties in Downing Street, which could potentially see him expelled as an MP.
It comes as Ms Truss was relentlessly mocked on Twitter last night after her humiliating resignation.
Her 44 days in office made her the shortest serving prime minister in UK history.
Speaking from a lectern in Downing Street this afternoon, Ms Truss said she had told the King she was resigning as the leader of the Conservative Party as she recognised she ‘cannot deliver the mandate’ which she committed to a little over six weeks ago.
She held talks with the chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservatives, Sir Graham Brady, and agreed to a fresh leadership election ‘to be completed within the next week’.
‘This will ensure that we remain on a path to deliver our fiscal plan and maintain our country’s economic stability and national security,’ she added.
‘I will remain as Prime Minister until a successor has been chosen.’
Twitter was alight yesterday with Tweets mocking Liz Truss for her unsuccessful stint in the top job
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer demanded a general election ‘now’ so that the nation can have ‘a chance at a fresh start’.
Without a general election, the Conservatives will be on their third prime minister on the mandate won by Boris Johnson in December 2019.
Sir Keir said: ‘The Conservative Party has shown it no longer has a mandate to govern. The British public deserve a proper say on the country’s future. They must have the chance to compare the Tories’ chaos with Labour’s plans to sort out their mess, grow the economy for working people and rebuild the country for a fairer, greener future.
‘We must have a chance at a fresh start. We need a general election – now.’
Ms Truss’s resignation came just a little over 24 hours after she told MPs she was ‘a fighter, not a quitter’.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson currently has the largest number of Tory MPs backing him
Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak is almost certain to stand and is running a close second to Mr Johnson
Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt was in third place last night with 12 MPs backing her
Sir Graham Brady MPs hoping to have their name on Monday’s ballot would need to have at least 100 nominations from their colleagues
Prime Minister Liz Truss delivered a resignation speech outside of 10 Downing Street
Prime Minister Liz Truss walking back inside No10 with her husband Hugh O’Leary
But her odds of survival were slashed following chaotic scenes in the Commons after the resignation of Suella Braverman as home secretary.
The number of Tory MPs publicly demanding Ms Truss’s resignation doubled before lunch was over on Thursday, taking the total to 15, but a far greater number were privately agitating for her exit.
The pound lifted on the resignation announcement following another volatile 24 hours for the currency amid political turmoil.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: ‘We don’t need another Conservative Prime Minister lurching from crisis to crisis. We need a general election now and the Conservatives out of power.’
This morning Sir David Lidington, who served as a Cabinet Office minister under former prime minister Theresa May, said Mr Johnson’s time in office ended with 60 ministers and parliamentary private secretaries saying ‘they did not feel they could remain in his government and that he was not fit to lead an effective administration’.
Sir David told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We do need competence now at a time of great economic challenge for this country.
‘Boris Johnson has always been somebody who has focused on the big picture, not on detail.
‘He is not really interested in the detail of governing and nor when he was prime minister did he appoint a couple of ministers with delegated authority on his behalf to get things done, instead we had bunches of aides in Number 10 busy briefing the media and shouting at each other most of the time.’
Sir David added: ‘Even on top of the fact that he is still being investigated by Parliament on allegations of deliberately lying to MPs, I think he has had his chance and the Conservative parliamentary party concluded just a few months ago this could not go on and it would not be right for him to continue as prime minister – that, after all, is why he resigned.’
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