A former aide to the prime minister who has emerged as a critic of Johnson took to Twitter on Friday and said that Johnson has been telling his aides he believes he’ll return to power within a year.

The Daily Telegraph also reported on Friday that there are tensions among Conservative members of parliament (MPs) about a petition calling for Johnson to be added to an upcoming leadership ballot.

Former President Donald Trump has remained a prominent figure in the Republican Party since leaving office in January, 2021 and he has repeatedly hinted that he will run for president again, including at a rally in Arizona on Friday.

Johnson has been compared to Trump in the past and there appears to be some support for him to either remain as party leader or to make a return to top tier politics at a later state.

“Boris is telling aides that he’ll be PM again within a year,” Tim Montgomerie tweeted.

More than 8,000 members of the Conservative Party have now signed a petition calling on Johnson to be added to the leadership ballot, according to Conservative Post, the group that organized the petition.

In order to sign that petition, signatories “are required to enter proof of membership.”

The petition is supported by Conservative donor Lord Cruddas (who has donated over a million pounds to the Conservative party and was given his peerage by Johnson), and former Conservative MEP David Campbell Bannerman.

Newsweek has asked 10 Downing Street for comment.

Conservative MP Michael Fabricant told The Daily Telegraph that he would support the campaign to bring Johnson back if the prime minister appeared willing.

“MPs have clearly misread the mood of the party membership on this and so many other matters,” Fabricant told the newspaper.

“If I thought Boris were keen – despite the treachery of his ministers – to carry on, I would support Peter Cruddas’s campaign in the blink of an eye,” he said.

Johnson also appeared to signal an openness to returning during his final appearance at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, saying it was “mission largely accomplished – for now.”

There is no legal barrier to a former prime minister returning to office but the last person to do so was Harold Wilson, who held the post from 1964 to 1970 and again from 1974 to 1976. However, Wilson remained leader of the Labour Party throughout that entire period.

The next leader of the Conservative Party will be chosen by members, who number somewhere between 150,000 and 175,000, according to reports. They will choose between Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and former Chancellor Rishi Sunak, with the results due on September 5.

In the meantime, Johnson will remain as prime minister and rumors about his continuing ambitions could affect the leadership race.

Former minister and influential anti-EU MP Steve Baker told The Daily Telegraph that the British government could collapse in a “Trumpian disaster” if Johnson doesn’t step in to quell efforts to bring him back.

“I implore members backing this campaign to think what would happen if they won and Boris continued as Prime Minister – the Government would immediately collapse,” said Baker, who is supporting Truss.

He said that Johnson was only able to keep a government together at the moment because he was leaving office.

“If members press on with this pro-Boris plan, they just get Rishi. Certain individuals who dislike both candidates cannot deliver us into a Trumpian disaster of dysfunctional government,” he said.

“I hope Boris will thank Lord Cruddas for his support but will confirm that he does now need to give way. The political stability of the U.K. rests on this. I see no alternative than for Boris to pop this bubble before we have another political disaster,” Baker said.

The prime minister’s future also appears to be on the minds of at least some of the nation’s children. At an awkward appearance this week, one child asked Liz Truss where Johnson was.

“Boris is back in Number 10 Downing Street,” the foreign secretary replied.

“Have they kicked him out yet?” another child asked, and added: “Do me a favor, when you become prime minister – evict him.”

Johnson resigned following a series of scandals, culminating in allegations of sexual misconduct against Chris Pincher, a Conservative member of parliament who served as the party’s deputy chief whip, and significant criticism of Johnson’s handling of the allegations.

The prime minister initially resisted calls for him to go but finally resigned following a historic number of resignations from his government.