George Osborne has finally said what everyone else in the country has long suspected.
The former chancellor said Boris Johnson wants to “bring down” Rishi Sunak so he can become prime minister again.
Osborne said Johnson’s weekend intervention on Brexit - where he warned it would be a “great mistake” to ditch the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill - was further proof of his desire to undermine the prime minister.
Speaking on the Andrew Neil Show on Channel 4 last night, he said: “Rishi Sunak should be applauded for trying to solve this mess from the past that he’s inherited.
“But he mustn’t make the mistake that basically Theresa May made, and David Cameron and I made before, which is to think that Boris Johnson is interested in the issues. Boris Johnson is interested in becoming prime minister again.
″And as you saw with the Brexit referendum or you saw with the Chequers agreement, if you can remember that with Theresa May, if you wait for Boris Johnson to do the grown-up, sensible thing, he’s not going to do it if he thinks there a political opportunity in causing trouble.
“And he wants to bring down Rishi Sunak and he will use any instrument to do it, and if the Northern Ireland negotiations are that instrument, he will pick it up and hit Mr Sunak over the head with it.”
Johnson’s intervention came as Sunak tries to strike a new deal with the European Union to replace the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The PM had wanted to present an agreement to the Commons this week, but that is now in doubt as the negotiations with Brussels continue.
Commons leader Penny Mordaunt yesterday tried to play down the significance of Johnson’s comments by insisting they were not “completely unhelpful” to the government.