Can Boris Johnson return from the wilderness and become British prime minister again?

If he can pull off a comeback, he will face a very different prospect from the one that greeted him in 2019.

Boris Johnson makes his final speech in Downing Street before formally resigning as Prime Minister (Victoria Jones/PA)

Boris Johnson’s chance to emulate his political hero Winston Churchill and return from the wilderness has come sooner than he might have expected.

Churchill spent a decade out of office between the Conservative defeat of 1929 and his recall to lead Britain through World War II in 1939, and then another six years after 1945 before being elected for a second term.