Boris Johnson ‘comeback plot’ dealt hammer blow as Nigel Farage opens up 15-point lead over ex-PM in Red Wall

However, Johnson is now ahead of Badenoch’s eight per cent in first-choice preferences and just five points behind Farage when it comes to voters' top three picks.

Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick, who is regarded as the frontrunner to replace Badenoch out of the remaining rump of Tory MPs, saw his top rate support languish at just three per cent.

Johnson is only pipped to second place as the top choice for best Prime Minister by Keir Starmer, with the Labour leader cementing 24 per cent support.

Starmer and Johnson ended up level-pegging when Red Wall voters were asked for their top three choices on 39 per cent - but still behind the 44 per cent opting for Farage.

And Merlin Strategy’s poll appears to suggest that the former Prime Minister would be vying for the same support as the Reform UK leader.

One-in-10 current Red Wall Reformers prefer Johnson, with 40 per cent putting the ex-Prime Minister in second or third.

Meanwhile, two-in-five 2019 Tories still put Johnson as their number one choice, behind the 31 per cent siding with Farage.

However, Johnson is well ahead when it comes to top three support compared to both Badenoch’s 33 per cent and Jenrick’s 24 per cent.

Merlin Strategy founder Scarlett Maguire argued the poll’s findings paint a torrid picture for Tories hoping for a Red Wall revival.

She told the People’s Channel: “All three Conservative big beasts fall short of Nigel Farage in the Red Wall.

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“Boris Johnson does best but is only narrowly ahead of Kemi Badenoch and some way behind Farage as first choice for Prime Minister. Robert Jenrick is behind them both.

“There will be a lot of work to be done if Badenoch is replaced, even the return of Boris Johnson does not look to be enough to lift them out of third place at this moment in time.”

Merlin Strategy also found that Reform’s Red Wall support now stands at 34 per cent, up from just seven per cent obtained by the Brexit Party in 2019 and 22 per cent hoovered up by Farage last July.

After receiving a three-point bounce in 2024, Labour has witnessed a collapse from 41 per cent to just 27 per cent.

Tory support has also more than halved compared to the 47 per cent Johnson received in 2019, dropping by two points in the past 10 months to just 22 per cent.

Johnson won 33 Red Wall seats in 2019, adding Hartlepool to his respectable haul in 2021.

However, Starmer flipped 34 of the 36 Brexit-voting Midlands and northern seats last July, missing out on Lee Anderson’s Ashfield constituency and Tory-held Stockton West.

Conservative MPs have reportedly been trying to lure Johnson back from the political wilderness as Badenoch continues to flounder following a disastrous set of Local Elections on May 1.

Johnson dipped his toe back into frontline politics by overshadowing Badenoch’s criticism of Starmer’s Brexit reset, warning the Prime Minister was turning the UK into “the orange ball-chewing, leather-truss gimp of Brussels”.

The ex-Prime Minister, who was forced out of No10 following a Cabinet cabal in the summer of 2022, also made the headlines yet again after arguing Starmer was creating a “police state” in the aftermath of Lucy Connolly’s appeal application being rejected.

And he was even rolled out by Rishi Sunak just 48 hours before the 2024 General Election for a barnstorming intervention on the campaign trail.

Johnson loyalists have long highlighted that the ex-Prime Minister was trailing Starmer by just six points when he was ousted from power.

Amid speculation of a Johnson comeback, a top Tory asked: "Remind me how many points we were behind when we got rid of Boris?"

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“Kemi still has plenty of time to gain momentum and to turn the party’s fortunes around,” they added.

“It wasn’t so long ago that Starmer was considering resigning in 2021 after Labour's defeat in Hartlepool.

“But Boris is the ultimate wildcard and if the Tories need to pull him out the back pocket he would be best placed to send reform and Labour into hysterical meltdown. He is the one they still fear most.”

However, a Reform UK insider stressed Johnson’s handling of net migration - which stood at 872,000 in 2022 - could play into Farage’s hands.

“Boris Johnson unleashed a model of mass migration that this country has never before seen,” the Reform source told GB News.

“The idea that this open border zealot is the man to win back the Red Wall for the Tories is laughable.

“These voters have seen the communities transformed in the last five years directly because of the deliberate decisions taken by Johnson.

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“It would be an absolute electoral blessing for us at Reform if this man were ever to resume to reins of the Conservative Party and would only expedite their descent into electoral irrelevance.”

Speaking at a press conference in Westminster earlier today, Farage also swatted away the threat posed by Johnson.

He said: "It’s completely irrelevant if Boris Johnson decided, although he’s got some pretty heavy domestic duties by the looks of it, to return.

"They will not be trusted again. They have no chance of winning the next General Election, none whatsoever. And I don’t really wish to spend much more time talking about them.

"They did sink to fourth in the opinion polls with YouGov last week. It is over, it is done. They’ve had a good 200 years. It is now finished."

Despite Johnson’s allies first tipping the former Prime Minister to siphon off votes from Farage in February, the father-of-nine dismissed speculation of a comeback earlier this month.

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Appearing on GB News shortly after the 2025 Local Elections bloodbath, Johnson said: "I'm not convinced I am in a position to do that at the moment.

“Our party is in a tough spot. As Kemi [Badenoch] has said, we always knew going into these Local Elections that it wasn't going to be brilliant. Everybody knew that was coming.

“And I think one thing, Kemi is a very interesting and original mind. I think she's probably the most original thinker of the current crop of leaders by a long, long way. And I think she just needs time to get going.”

However, Johnson has always opted to keep the door ajar to a Churchillian comeback.

Speaking from No10 ahead of his departure in September 2022, the classics scholar likened himself to Cincinnatus, a figure who “returned to his plough” before being called upon to return to Rome and lead as a dictator.

Famed classicist Mary Beard said at the time: “If you are curious about Boris Johnson's reference to Cincinnatus in his goodbye speech - he was a 5th century BC Roman politician who saved the state from an invasion, then - job done - returned to his farm ('to his plough'). He was also an enemy of the people.”