A senior member of Boris Johnson’s Cabinet has insisted she heard no conversations about trying to oust the Prime Minister from Downing Street.

Liz Truss hailed Mr Johnson as an “excellent Prime Minister” who is “doing a fantastic job” – despite claims from his former top adviser Dominic Cummings that there was talk of removing him from Number 10 within weeks of his December 2019 election victory.

In an explosive interview with the BBC Mr Cummings – who left No 10 in the autumn after a power struggle – accused Mr Johnson of not having a plan and alleged that he “doesn’t know how to be Prime Minister”.

Mr Cummings, a key figure in the Vote Leave campaign of 2016, added: “We only got him in there because we had to solve a certain problem, not because he was the right person to be running the country.”

Ms Truss, however, was adamant she had not heard any conversations about removing Mr Johnson.

Speaking about the BBC interview, the Trade Secretary told PA: “Sadly I haven’t had time to watch it, and I don’t think I will be finding any time to watch it for the next millennium either.”

Asked if there was any need for Mr Johnson to be removed from Downing Street, Ms Truss stated: “The Prime Minister is doing a fantastic job of leading the country, we’ve had a very successful roll out here in the United Kingdom, we are working hard to build back the economy after Covid.”

She spoke out during a trip to Scotland where she is speaking to businesses “about the opportunities for investment and for exports from our new free trade deal”.

And she added she was “very happy working for such an excellent Prime Minister”.