Boris Johnson does not support a bid by grassroots Tories to stop him quitting Number 10, Nadine Dorries has revealed.
The culture secretary said the prime minister has told her personally that the campaign is “not right”.
Around 14,000 Conservative members are reported to have signed a petition demanding a vote on whether Johnson’s resignation should be accepted.
It has been organised by Tory donor and peer Lord Cruddas, who said the PM had told him over lunch at Chequers that he wanted to remain in the job and lead the party into the next election.
Cruddas told The Telegraph: “There was no ambiguity in Boris’s views. He definitely does not want to resign. He wants to carry on and he believes that, with the membership behind him, he can.”
But appearing on Radio Four’s Today programme this morning, Dorries insisted Johnson did not support those involved in the campaign.
She said: “The prime minister actually spoke to me about this a few days ago, and he said, just in passing, ‘if you hear anything about these people, tell them to stop, it’s not right’. Those were his exact words.”
Dorries, who is supporting Liz Truss’s campaign to succeed Johnson as Tory leader and prime minister, also took aim at her rival, Rishi Sunak.
“I am bitterly disappointed that Boris Johnson was removed via a ruthless coup led largely by Rishi Sunak,” she said.