Can Rishi Sunak ever escape Boris Johnson’s shadow?

As the former PM makes a surprise visit to Israel, the present incumbent of No 10 is still struggling to shrug off his predecessor, writes Kate Devlin. And there is much more still to come

Boris Johnson’s government has left more potential problems for Rishi Sunak than most (Getty/EPA/The Independent)

Boris Johnson has made a surprise trip to Israel to “express solidarity and support” and meet the country’s president as its war with Hamas in Gaza continues to rage.

But there is little solidarity from Johnson or his allies, and even less support, for the prime minister of the UK.

Rishi Sunak has faced a torrid week of headlines centred on his predecessor-but-one in the job – suggesting that the PM is still struggling to shake off the hangover from the beleaguered Johnson administration.

So why is Boris Johnson still cropping up in the news?

First, the Covid inquiry heard lurid and expletive-laden tales of how Johnson and his advisers behaved as the pandemic gripped the nation.

Johnson believed the deadly disease was nature’s way of dealing with old people, the inquiry heard. He was an indecisive “trolley” whose skillset could not guide the nation through the emergency.

No 10 under his command was toxic, sexist, and devoid of humanity, a top civil servant said – the kind of place where the then prime minister’s chief adviser could message his boss to call members of the cabinet “f***pigs”. Johnson had even asked whether blowing the heat from a hairdryer up one’s nose could be effective against Covid, the inquiry was told.

Anything else?

It doesn’t stop there. In recent days, Sunak has also faced allegations from a close ally of Johnson, the former culture secretary Nadine Dorries, that a group within the Tory party known as “the movement” acted to oust Johnson and replace him with Sunak.

Dorries’s resignation from her role as an MP, as she angrily accused Sunak of blocking a peerage she was expecting to receive, led to one of two crushing by-election defeats for the Tories on the same day last month.

And what about other former leaders – are they letting Sunak get on with it?

No – Johnson is not the only ex-PM causing headaches for the current leader in Downing Street.

Ahead of the Budget, Liz Truss’s “growth commission” is planning to set out its own “alternative” programme of how the government should run the economy.

And last month, David Cameron criticised Sunak for scrapping the Manchester leg of the HS2 rail link – just hours after the prime minister had finally confirmed his decision to do so.

So what does this all mean for Sunak and his chances of success at the polls?

The turmoil and psychodrama in the Tory party that eventually gave Sunak the keys to No 10 have also left him with more “ghosts of prime ministers past” than most PMs.

But Johnson’s government has also left more potential problems for Sunak than most.

As the general election approaches, however, Tory MPs are torn. Many want Sunak to do more to distance himself from his Partygate predecessor, the man found earlier this year to have repeatedly lied to parliament. There are some others who candidly admit, however, that in the run-up to a tough election, they would like Johnson to visit their constituencies.

The former PM may currently be in a war zone, but he has another battle to prepare for at home – his own much-anticipated appearance before the Covid inquiry, due to take place within weeks. A Christmas present Sunak could no doubt do without.