A Conservative backbench MP has claimed he was asked to be a "stalking horse" leadership candidate in a plot to oust Prime Minister David Cameron.
Colonel Bob Stewart said he was approached by two party colleagues before the summer recess with the proposal, but told them to "get lost" and rejected the idea as "silly".
Asked about the plan, Col Stewart, who was commanding officer of the British battalion in Bosnia, told the reporters: "It was a silly suggestion that I dismissed. I told them to get lost.
"I may have rebelled by voting against House of Lords reform and on Europe, but that does not make me disloyal. He is the leader of our country, the leader of our party and I believe in loyalty."
The MP declined to name the plotters and said he had not been told on whose behalf the pair were operating.
Details of the alleged scheming were exposed by The Mail on Sunday, which also reported that Tory MP Zac Goldsmith had offered his safe Tory seat to Boris Johnson in another alleged plot.
Mr Goldsmith has vowed to resign as the MP for Richmond in southwest London, if the Government revives controversial plans for a third runway at Heathrow airport - which is also fiercely opposed by the London mayor.
The newspaper said the idea of Mr Johnson fighting the subsequent by-election to secure a return to the Commons and the chance to challenge for the leadership was made in talks to discuss how best to oppose the airport expansion.
The idea was said to have been dismissed "out of hand" by the mayor, whose position as a potential challenger to Mr Cameron has been reinforced by the successful London Olympics.
The mayor's official spokesman said: "It's no surprise that the mayor has met and will continue to meet those who share his concerns over the lack of aviation capacity in London and the south-east.
"But the story in question is without doubt fanciful."
Mr Goldsmith told the newspaper: "I saw Boris this week and we compared notes on Heathrow to see what we could do to kill off the third runway."
Mr Johnson, who has dismissed suggestions he could cut short his mayoral term to launch a leadership bid, has led the outcry over the reconsideration of Heathrow expansion.
Mr Cameron has ordered a cross-party commission to seek consensus on the divisive issue of airport capacity in southeast England, but has insisted he will not break a manifesto pledge ruling out a third runway at Heathrow during this Parliament.
