Brexiteer Arron Banks wants to mobilise Leave supporters to join the Tory Party and vote Boris Johnson as leader Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon says Johnson has potential to be a ‘great prime minister’

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Brexit-backing businessman Arron Banks is planning an attempt to ensure that Boris Johnson becomes prime minister by flooding the Conservative Party membership with his anti-EU supporters.

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The former Ukip donor, who gave £9m to the Leave.eu campaign in the 2016 referendum, has proposed a digital advertising campaign to encourage backers of his Brexiteer movement to join Tory ranks and back Mr Johnson in a future leadership election.

Momentum

The tactic has echoes of previous tactics to mobilise popular support for political figures such as the Momentum campaign which helped reinforce Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party.

Mr Banks, a controversial figure who made his fortune through insurance and has recently faced scrutiny over his links to Russia, has made no secret of his opposition to Prime Minister Theresa May’s Chequers deal and his backing for the former foreign secretary.

But it is the businessman’s links to the inner circle of America’s alt-right and backers of Donald Trump which will give most pause for thought in Downing Street and Conservative Central Office.

Trump adviser

In the immediate aftermath of Mr Trump’s election victory, Mr Banks travelled to meet the president-elect along with close political ally and former Ukip leader Nigel Farage.

Steve Bannon, Mr Trump’s former political strategist and architect of his White House victory, yesterday reiterated his support for Mr Johnson, saying he has the potential to be “a great prime minister”.

Mr Bannon, who is attempting to sway Mr Johnson towards supporting his plans for a populist anti-EU movement, insisted that Mr Johnson had “nothing to apologise” for over his remarks on the wearing of the burka.

The US right-winger told the Sunday Times: “Boris just needs to be Boris – true to his nature and his calling – and I think he has potential to be a great prime minister, not a good one.”

Donations

Mr Banks said that his Leave.eu campaign had received a record £50,000 in donations last month as opposition hardened among Brexiteers to the softer Brexit envisaged in the Chequers proposals.

He told the Mail on Sunday that his campaign to back Mr Johnson would target Leave.eu’s 1.2m online supporters and followers. He claimed that some 7,500 had already signed up to the Conservative Party with the aim of backing Mr Johnson.

Mr Banks said: “Mrs May has badly miscalculated. People admire authentic politicians like Boris, not grey robots.”