Should Boris Johnson get the sack? Have your say in our poll

Theresa May is facing calls to give Boris Johnson the sack in order reassert her authority over a fractured Conservative Party.

Speculation is circulating that the Prime Minister is planning a cabinet reshuffle to shore up her position, with the Foreign Secretary in the firing line for a demotion.

But allies of Mr Johnson have warned that he would ‘just say no’ to the possibility of a demotion, leaving Mrs May with little option to sack him or leave him in post.

Supporters of the Foreign Secretary have also said that the PM lacks the authority to push him out of the door after her general election gamble backfired, leaving her without a majority.

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Mr Johnson is seen as a possible Tory leadership rival, and has been accused of deliberately undermining Mrs May over Brexit by publishing his own set of Brexit ‘red lines’ in a newspaper column.

But today he distanced himself from the reports claiming he would resist an attempt to demote him.

The Foreign Secretary said “friends and allies” quoted in media reports were not speaking for him and did not represent his views.

In a WhatsApp message to Conservative MPs, he suggested they were “some sinister band of imposters”, according to Sky News.

In his message, Mr Johnson said: “I am frankly fed up to the back teeth with all this.

“I do not know who these people are. I do not know if they are really my friends and allies or if they represent some sinister band of imposters.

“I heartily disagree with the sense, tone and spirit of what they are quoted as saying.

“Whoever they are they do not speak for me.”

Mr Johnson also criticised a Tory rebel plot to oust Mrs May this weekend, saying that only ‘nutters’ in the party want to dislodge the PM.

In his newspaper column he backed Mrs May to secure a “great and successful Brexit”.

He said: “The people of this country don’t want a general election.

“For heaven’s sake: in the last three years we have had two elections and a referendum. They certainly don’t want to see a Tory leadership contest that would inevitably trigger further demands for an election.”