Tory members said they miss Boris Johnson as the party held its annual conference without him.
The Express asked attendees at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester if they missed the charismatic former prime minister.
One said: “I think everyone misses Boris. I remember going to his conference speech two yers ago in Manchester and there was such a huge line to get there, I think I waited two hours.
“And he’s such a good character as well, no one can ever replace Boris.”
Another member said they thought Mr Johnson, who was forced out of No 10 last summer following a series of scandals, was “very mistreated”.
He said: “I backed Boris in 2019 during the election, I had a good relationship with him personally. So yes I do miss him. I think he was very mistreated.
“Obviously the Partygate thing was bad, of course, but at the same time he got the message in, he’s got the charisma, he was a natural winner.”
When asked if they miss Mr Johnson, a third Conservative member replied: “Absolutely.”
Another delegate revealed they had mixed feelings, saying: “I miss his charisma and I thought he was a good character but I don’t miss his mistakes and his lack of attention to detail.”
When approached by the Express, a Tory member paused then said: “Well I had a lot of respect for him for what he did for the country but I think he’s not right for us right now.”
Another said he missed the “rhetoric” from the 59-year-old ex-premier.
He went on: “He was also an interesting one that he’d bluster about when he was being dishonest so he was quite easy to notice which despite how frequently he’d be dishonest does imply a level of honesty that many politicians are missing.”
Another woman admitted she missed Mr Johnson but insisted the party had moved on under his successor-but-one Rishi Sunak.
She said: “Well yes because Boris was a character and I think yes he helped us win the last general election.
“But we’ve moved on and everybody has to move on and Boris has moved on so we’ve got to get behind Rishi and I do wish these MPs trying to cause him problems would shut up and go away if they’re not happy with things that are going on.”
