Boris Johnson discusses his downfall in a GB News interview (Image: GB News)
Boris Johnson has claimed Rishi Sunak was “badly advised” as he accused the Tory party of an “outbreak of irrationality”.
The former Prime Minister said Mr Sunak was a “close colleague and friend who turned on me in a particularly critical time”.
Mr Johnson was eventually ejected from Downing Street amid controversies over Partygate and the Chris Pincher scandal.
And he said his downfall was down to an “outbreak of irrationality” in the party as the fell behind Labour in the polls just two years after claiming an 80-seat majority.
Boris Johnson says Rishi Sunak was a ‘close colleague and friend who turned’ (Image: GB News)
Speaking to Camilla Tominey on GB News, Mr Johnson said: “We not only got done, delivered full national independence, which was not an insignificant thing. We then used that to deliver the fastest vaccine rollout of any European country so that we were able to have the fastest economic recovery of any G7 country.
“We had unemployment at a 50-year low, 620,000 more people in paid employment.
“Sadly, there was an outbreak of irrationality in my party. And I think they made the wrong calculation. You ask about Rishi?
“If you asked me, if you really pushed me to say, was it all a terrible mistake to kick me out? Yes, I think it was.
“It was a goof.”
Asked if Mr Sunak was behind the plot to remove him, Mr Johnson jumped in: “And yes, I think he was badly advised. He was badly advised.
“I think he was…”
Ms Tominey then asked “what role did he play in your downfall”
And Mr Johnson said: “The role of…”
The former Prime Minister then paused for several seconds, before adding: “He was a close colleague and friend who turned on me in a particularly critical time and I thought it was a mistake.
“It was worse than a crime. And so it proved.”
Mr Sunak was the second cabinet minister to resign after the Pincher affair triggering the collapse of Johnson’s government.
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Asked if the could have won the last election had he still been in charge, he added: “I think we would have a very good shot.
“Yes, I think we would. We were only a handful of points behind in the polls. Nothing like the huge gaps that opened up and Reform was on zero.”
Mr Johnson, in his book Unleashed, noted that the Ready for Rishi leadership campaign website had been launched in January 2022 before he was forced out almost six months later.
And he suggested that Mr Sunak was planning the betrayal all along and holding back economic recovery policy after the pandemic.
But Mr Johnson claimed the chances of him making a Downing Street comeback were very low.
He said: “I was not responsible for what then happened.
“I had taken up my plough, I’m living a very happy life of blameless, rustic, obscurity.
“I’m working on various books.
“As I used to say, I think the chances of mounting a comeback, getting back into Number 10 are about as good as my chances of being reincarnated as an olive or decapitated by a frisbee or being locked in a disused fridge.”
But, despite insisting his chances were extremely low, Mr Johnson couldn’t explicitly rule out a comeback.