But it seems clear that being in power is for Johnson an itch that hasn’t gone away.
Experts say he is obsessed with delivering the 14 million voters who voted Conservative in 2019, many for the first time because of him.
There are already revolts of revolt among the members. By Saturday night, 9,150 Tory members had signed a petition organized by Lord Cruddas of Shoreditch, the party’s former treasurer, and David Campbell-Bannerman, a former Tory MEP, demanding a say on its future.
Members want a second vote to confirm MPs’ decision to force her resignation, to run concurrently with the official leadership vote between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.
If Cruddas’ campaign were to succeed and Johnson were to win a second membership vote, well, all bets are off.
But if nothing remained, what do we know so far? On September 5, the Conservatives will have a new leader: Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak.
Johnson would leave 10 Downing Street, with his wife Carrie and their children Wilfred and Romy, doing the “perp walk” in front of the waiting cameras.
No 10 is tight-lipped about what happens next, but Johnson is likely to return to the backbenches afterwards as none of the candidates to replace him have said they want him in their cabinet.
Saving your reputation
His first battle would be to save his political reputation. Harriet Harman, the Labor veteran who chairs a committee looking into whether Johnson misled MPs about the deadlock-breaking parties at 10 Downing St, is sharpening her pen.
She has already requested a trove of WhatsApp messages, internal documents and photographs to try to build a case against Johnson to show he misled MPs from the inbox.
This could lead to a by-election in Uxbridge and West Ruislip, a seat Johnson only held in 2019 with a majority of 7,210.
Johnson would then face a choice: either continue as an MP, fight any by-election his enemies throw at him and return to Parliament; or pack it all up and run away to lick his wounds.
If he were to continue as an MP, he will face a long and hard road to political redemption. From the back benches, Johnson could start publishing reports on the Red Wall, becoming a de facto spokesman for the northern seats he worked so hard to win.