Intelligence services ‘wary of sharing information with Boris Johnson because they don’t trust him’

Britain’s intelligence services are “wary” of sharing classified information with Boris Johnson because they don’t trust him, it has been claimed.

The Foreign Secretary has come under fire from critics who believe his style is not suited to someone in high office.

Now Britain’s spies are said to be on the list of people who have reached the end of their tether with the former London Mayor, according to an article in left-wing publication New Statesman.

The article said: “Even his ministerial team at the Foreign Office is said to be unhappy.

“The intelligence services are believed to be wary of sharing sensitive information with him, and on occasion relations with his instinctively Europhile civil servants have been strained.”

Mr Johnson came under fire last month when he joked that the Libyan town of Sirte – a former Islamic State stronghold – could be “the next Dubai” once they “clear the dead bodies away”.

Tory MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, yesterday warned Mr Johnson that it was “really, really hard to do cross-cultural humour”.

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However, the Foreign Secretary hit back at claims his humour was damaging Britain’s relationship with other countries.

He told the committee: “Telling jokes is often a very effective way of getting a diplomatic message across.”

He added: “Sometimes actually people greatly appreciate you are talking to them in an informal way while subtly getting the point across.”