A UK Cabinet minister has insisted Westminster has “moved on” from the Boris Johnson era amid a warning over a “civil war” inside the Tory party following the former PM’s decision to quit the Commons.

UK Energy Secretary Grant Shapps, who also served in government under Mr Johnson, said his party did not miss the “drama” of the former PM, adding that his former leader is not in the “mindset” to fight the next general election.

It comes after Johnson ally Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said the ex-incumbent of No 10, who quit the Commons on Friday in protest against an MPs’ inquiry into partygate, could contest the next election for the Conservative Party and would be in “pole position” during a future leadership contest.

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Sir Jacob said there could be a Tory “civil war” if the party tried to “block” him from standing.

Mr Shapps told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: “There is no kind of chance of him coming back and saying, ‘right, now I’m going to stand again’.

“From what I understand, even he has said he doesn’t want to do that. So we are rather in the realms of the hypothetical.”

Mr Shapps said Mr Johnson would have been “perfectly entitled to remain as an MP” but “decided to step down”.

He told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: “I think people around the country inside and outside the party recognise that Boris was somebody with many qualities.

“But we are now in a world where there are different challenges to face and we’ve got new management in No 10 getting on with the job and getting on with the priorities of this country.

“I think the world has moved on from what was quite a dramatic period under Brexit and of course under the issues related to Covid, the vaccines and the rest of it.”

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He said the UK is in a “calmer period” under the leadership of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who he said is “doing proper Conservative things” in a response to Mr Johnson accusing the Government of ditching 2019 manifesto pledges.

Mr Shapps also said he disagrees with Mr Johnson’s criticism of the Commons Privileges Committee’s investigation into whether he misled MPs when he said Covid rules were followed in Downing Street during the pandemic despite lockdown-busting parties taking place.

Mr Johnson attacked the seven-person panel on Friday as he resigned as an MP, accusing them of a “witch hunt” and likening the panel to a “kangaroo court”.

But Mr Shapps said he has “no reason” to support the accusations, denying suggestions the investigation was motivated by a desire to reverse Brexit.

The former Tory chairman said, while Mr Johnson had successes as prime minister, he thinks “people both in the Conservative Party and outside don’t miss the drama” of his premiership.

It comes as Guto Harri, a former Johnson spin doctor, told Sky his former boss has been “hounded out of politics”.

But Nigel Farage said the episode spells “the end of Boris Johnson in the Conservative Party” as he suggested more than 10 Tory MPs could be willing to join a new party.

The prominent Leave campaigner, added that the “gap for another insurgency is actually bigger than it was 10 years ago”.