Although Mr Cummings was not in the room during fraught discussions with Mr Johnson, sources said it was ‚obvious‘ who was behind the move.

Following more than an hour of frantic wrangling, Mr Javid finally resigned in protest.

‚The prime minister said he had to fire all his special advisers and replace them with Number 10 special advisers to make it one team,‘ a source close to Mr Javid said.