Did Rishi Sunak really mean to suggest Boris Johnson could make a comeback?

The prime minister couldn’t rule out a return to cabinet for his predecessor-but-one – but that doesn’t make it likely to happen, says John Rentoul

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak leave 10 Downing Street in 2020 when they were prime minister and chancellor, respectively (PA)

Rishi Sunak has been subjected to the personal profile treatment by ITV, featuring a previously unseen photo of him as a boy in front of a caravan... and an interview with Anushka Asthana in which he “doesn’t rule out” Boris Johnson returning to the cabinet.

“Doesn’t rule out” is being used in the journalistic sense, in which he also “didn’t rule out” flying to Mars and back in time for tea. It was not so much that Sunak “didn’t rule out” Johnson following Lord Cameron back to the front rank, but that he didn’t answer the question at all.

He told Asthana: “I’m proud of the work that we did together. And we worked well together for a long time…”