Boris Johnson: Don't back ex-PM, says his former Welsh secretary

Former Welsh Secretary Simon Hart has warned fellow Conservative MPs against supporting the return of Boris Johnson as prime minister.

Mr Johnson has 41 MPs publicly backing his return to Downing Street, which he left only last month.

"This is not a joke. We're not trying to watch some sort of black-and-white repeats of the past and think it's all going to be great again," said Mr Hart.

Candidates to succeed Liz Truss need the support of at least 100 Tory MPs.

Meanwhile, Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price said the chaos in government has bolstered calls for Welsh independence.

Senior Conservatives hoping to become the next prime minister have begun canvassing support among Tory MPs, with Penny Mordaunt the first candidate to officially enter the race.

BBC Wales spoke to people in Rhondda, a constituency that has voted Labour in every general election since its current boundaries were set in 1974.

Cheryl Rees, 75, from Ton Pentre, said the situation in Westminster was "dreadful, absolutely dreadful".

After Liz Truss, she said she was unsure if "the Conservative government can keep going. That's why I think you need a general election".

Mrs Rees said she was struggling with her gas and electric bills, but did not expect any more help from the next Conservative PM.

"I think it's an absolute shambles," she said.

David Brownnutt, 75, a retired Baptist minister from Tynewydd, said something needed to be done quickly about the "absolute mess' in Westminster.

"The economic situation in this country, the political situation in Europe," he said, "we need a strong, sustainable government [that] knows what it's doing."

Mr Brownnutt said the situation was so bad for poor people, there was no time for a general election.

"Can we do what they used to do in wartime and have a government of national unity? Something has got to happen, because we cannot go on like this, particularly for the sake of the poor."

Simon Hart was one of a handful of cabinet ministers who told Boris Johnson to stand down before resigning himself.

The Conservative MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire told BBC Radio Wales the Tory leadership situation was "embarrassing" and a "soap opera".

"I find it quite difficult to face up to the reality of this," said Mr Hart, who is backing Rishi Sunak.

On Mr Johnson's possible return to Downing Street, he said an upcoming Commons inquiry into whether the former prime minister misled parliament could be a problem.

"We shouldn't forget that it was only a few weeks ago that 50-odd ministers, including me, resigned in the space of a few days because we had run out of road on the integrity ticket," he said. "This is a moment where we can't take a gamble, we can't take a risk."

Wales Office minister David TC Davies said Conservatives must rally behind the next prime minister or risk being wiped out at the next election.

The Monmouth MP said "back-biting and squabbling" had badly damaged public trust in the party.

He is also backing Mr Sunak, but pressed colleagues to fully support the successful candidate.

"I urge any Conservative MP to get behind whoever wins because the country doesn't want any more squabbling [or] a rabble all wanting their own favourite candidate," he said.

"We have to get behind whoever is there for stability, otherwise the party is going to fall apart.

"Problems have come about from people back-biting and talking to the press off the record because they want their favourite candidate to win and perhaps they've been promised a job.

"It's a long way back to win the next election and the Conservative Party has a huge amount of work to do to restore trust. It looks a mess when you go through prime ministers that quickly."

Mr Sunak is another likely contender, while sources close to Mr Johnson neither confirm nor deny he will stand again.

A handful of Mr Johnson's biggest political supporters are pressing the former prime minister to make a comeback.

However Mr Davies fears the former prime minister remains a "divisive" character.

"I like him but I would be cautious because he is a divisive figure, which is something that doesn't bode very well," he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

"Rishi could get over that better. He did a good job running the economy during Covid and has the skills and experience to get us through this financial problem."

Mr Davies' comments were echoed by the chairman of the Welsh Conservatives, Glyn Davies, who said he was "depressed" by the state of the party.

"The next leader has a huge challenge but the party throughout history has shown itself to be incredibly resilient," he said.

"Everyone can see that we need stability. There's a lot of noise right now but hopefully this selection process will bring that quickly to a head because we can't let this drift on."

The instability in Westminster has fuelled calls for an independence referendum in Wales.

As Tory MPs prepare to select the UK's fourth prime minister in less than four years, Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price said it was time for Wales to be "insulated" from a "broken" system.

Speaking before the party's conference in Llandudno this weekend, the former MP said: "I spent nine years in Westminster and I've never seen anything like this. This awful mess is incredibly damaging to people's trust in politics.

"At a time when families are facing incredibly difficult pressures, where people are having to decide between heating or eating, we were crying out for leadership.

"We have a broken system in Westminster that is rotten to the core and the sooner we're out of it the better.

"Wales would be better off as an independent nation and many would have come to that conclusion over the past few days.

"We have never voted as a nation for a majority of Conservative MPs so why is it that for two-thirds of the time we have been landed in Wales with a Conservative government. We're having to deal with the consequences of their mistakes time and again."

Opposition parties are calling for a general election to decide who should be the next prime minister.

The next general election is not due to take place until at least 2024 and, at this stage, it looks unlikely that date will be brought forward.

First Minister Mark Drakeford, speaking immediately after Ms Truss's resignation on Thursday, said the "complete and utter failure" of her government must prompt a general election.

Shadow Welsh Secretary and Cardiff Central MP Jo Stevens added: "This is an absolute mess and enough is enough.

"They should put the national interest first and call an election. It's about what's best for the country not Conservative Party survival. We've got to stop this nonsense."

However, Mr Davies responded: "Mark Drakeford, Nicola Sturgeon and the last Labour prime minister, Gordon Brown, all came into office halfway through a term with a mandate from their parties, not the public."