Boris Johnson vowed 'I'll be back' to Daily Express readers (Image: GETTY)

       Boris Johnson has topped a new poll of Tory politicians to take on Sir Keir Starmer in a fresh comeback boost.

       The survey asked respondents who they would back over the Labour leader and different Conservative politicians in a head-to-head.

       Mr Johnson was the only one to outperform Rishi Sunak and beat other Tories including former home secretary Suella Braverman, Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch and Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt.

       Some 28% would vote for Mr Johnson against Sir Keir, compared to 25% for the Prime Minister.

       The poll also found 52% of 2019 Conservative voters who have not decided who they will back at the next general election said they would return to the Tories under Mr Johnson.

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       Lady McAlpine, a Conservative supporter who commissioned the poll, said she believed the Tories would beat Labour if Mr Johnson led a “new squeaky clean Conservative Party".

       Of the current party, she told The Telegraph: “If we have the brains, they’re not evident and that’s because the personality is not there, the charisma is not there.

       "To be a leader, you have to have enormous charisma to be a good leader.”

       She added: “It doesn’t matter where Boris goes in the world. People like him and therefore listen to him. They don’t like you, they don’t listen to you.”

       The poll by Whitestone Insight surveyed 13,534 British adults online between January 23 and February 7.

       It comes as Mr Johnson, who led the Tories to a landslide victory at the last general election, is at the centre of fresh comeback speculation after Mr Sunak opened the door to a return.

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       The Prime Minister's comments prompted other senior Conservative figures to speak out in support of the charismatic 59-year-old.

       Mr Johnson promised "I'll be back" in a direct message to Daily Express readers when he quit Parliament last year following a "witch hunt" investigation into Partygate.

       The ex-premier's spokesman has “ruled nothing in or out” over his political future.

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