Is Boris going to do the chicken run?

Is 2023 going to be the year of Boris? Much of the commentariat seems to think it’s possible, with the supremely-connected Paul Goodman writing this week in the Times that Johnson’s return to No. 10 ‘has a certain plausibility to his Westminster supporters.’

And now that same august paper of record has published another intriguing article by a onetime Tory MP, hinting at Bozza’s possible new year plans. Matthew Parris writes in his notebook today about rumours sweeping the Peak District that Johnson is about to do the infamous ‘chicken run’ by switching from his London base to a safer seat ahead of the next election.

With his Uxbridge constituency (majority: 7,210) looking likely to go red in 2024, Johnson is reportedly eyeing up the much safer seat of Derbyshire Dales (Tory majority: 17,381). The latter is currently represented by Sarah Dines, a former divorce lawyer. Parris writes that:

She and he are on excellent terms: within two years of her election, Johnson, as prime minister, made her one of his parliamentary private secretaries.