Boris Johnson 'planned to oust Rishi Sunak as Chancellor before he resigned,' claims former media chief

9 May 2023, 09:27 | Updated: 9 May 2023, 13:04

Guto Harri said Boris Johnson was planning to oust Rishi Sunak as Chancellor
Guto Harri said Boris Johnson was planning to oust Rishi Sunak as Chancellor. Picture: Alamy

By Asher McShane

Boris Johnson planned to oust Rishi Sunak from his job as chancellor before he resigned, No 10’s former director of communications Guto Harri has claimed.

Harri said Mr Sunak "beat him to it and brought the whole show down" in an interview with Nick Ferrari at Breakfast on LBC.

Harri, who has detailed his time in Downing Street in a new podcast series Unprecedented for Global Player, told Nick he thinks Rishi is a ‘class act’ but there was a ‘fundamental disagreement in policy’ between the two men that went beyond Partygate.

Mr Sunak was widely blamed by allies of Mr Johnson for his downfall last summer, after dramatically quitting as chancellor. His decision to quit was followed by a flood of ministerial resignations that eventually forced the Prime Minister from No 10.

“It wasn’t over a personality clash. There was a limited amount of money left because the government understandably blew a lot of money during covid. What do you do with the money that’s left?," Mr Harri said.

Listen and subscribe to Unprecedented: Inside Downing Street on Global Player

Guto Harri explains how Rishi Sunak outmanoeuvred Boris Johnson

“There was a lot of pressure in the party to cut taxes. That explains why Liz Truss beat Rishi to the leadership.

"There was a lot of pressure from Boris to build nuclear power stations and offshore wind farms so that we didn’t have a cost of living crisis in 10 years time, and Rishi was stubbornly sticking to the idea that the most important thing to do with tens of billions of pounds was to cushion the impact of people's bills today.

"Valid point of view but the tension was building between the two of them."

Read more: Boris 'squared up to Charles' in row over slavery says ex-No.10 media chief

Listen and subscribe to Unprecedented: Inside Downing Street on Global Player from Thursday May 11
Listen and subscribe to Unprecedented: Inside Downing Street on Global Player from Thursday May 11. Picture: LBC

“Frankly if things hadn’t turned out as they did last July, I think over the summer we’d have had a reshuffle and Rishi would have been offered a different job.”

He added that an imminent return to power for Mr Johnson was unrealistic, but suggested that there was a possibility it could happen after the next general election.

Mr Sunak's official spokesman, asked what the Downing Street incumbent thought of the remarks allegedly made by one of his predecessors, said he had not spoken to the Prime Minister about the reports.

The No 10 official added: "The Prime Minister uses appropriate language."

It also emerged in the podcast that Boris Johnson confronted King Charles, "essentially squaring up" to him for branding the Rwanda asylum policy "appalling".

Harri claimed Mr Johnson told him he "went in quite hard" on the then-prince.

Mr Johnson disputed his long-standing ally's account as "inaccurate", with a source saying he "deplores" any commentary on conversations with royals.

Charles and Mr Johnson discussed the King's reported criticism of the scheme as they met in Rwanda's capital of Kigali at a Commonwealth summit in June.

At the time, Mr Johnson described his discussion with Charles as a "good old chinwag" that "covered a lot of ground".

He wrote: "'I went in quite hard', he told me at the time, essentially squaring up to the prince and confronting him about what he - as unelected royalty - had said about the actions of a democratically elected government.

"Prince Charles was busted. He had obviously expressed some criticism, and though he tried to play it down, Boris pointed out the obvious, (saying): 'If you didn't say it we both know your people could ring the newspapers and kill the story. The fact they haven't done that says it all'."

Along with other former prime ministers, Mr Johnson's attended the King's coronation at the weekend.

Mr Harri claimed Charles and Mr Johnson had struggled to get on for years after the politician was late for a meeting while London mayor, but that Rwanda was the final straw.

"Relations never fully recovered and Charles will be relieved that Boris had left No 10 before he ascended to the throne," he added.

Unprecedented: Inside Downing Street - a new Global Player podcast

Mr Johnson brought Mr Harri into No 10 after a clearout of aides over the partygate scandal, bringing back his former City Hall communications adviser into his inner circle.

A source close to Mr Johnson said: "Boris Johnson does not recognise this account and it is inaccurate. It does not accurately reflect any conversation.

"We would never comment on these matters and Mr Johnson deplores any attempt to do so."

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

Dorothy Chiles

Great-grandmother, 87, pictured for first time after deadly train station attack, as woman in her 20s arrested

President Donald Trump speaks on Wednesday night

Trump says 'the US wants its money back on Ukraine' as he makes plans to meet Putin and end war

Exclusive
Katie Amess has spoken out about the need for an inquiry into her father's murder by an Islamist terrorist

Daughter of Sir David Amess, MP murdered by Islamist terrorist, ‘made to sign NDA’ on report into father’s death

Exclusive
Angela Rayner reveals she took advice from NHS trauma specialists ahead of Grenfell demolition meeting

Angela Rayner reveals she took advice from NHS trauma specialists ahead of Grenfell demolition meeting

Italian F1 Grand Prix - Previews

Nightclub bouncer behind £12m plot to reveal Formula One star Michael Schumacher's health secrets jailed

Josef Fritzl

Incest monster Josef Fritzl could walk free from prison next year - and expects 'cheering crowds' to greet him

Ofsted's Chief Inspector Sir Martyn Oliver supports an extension to term times

'Time to think about school holidays': Ofsted's Chief Inspector supports extending term times

Exclusive
Angela Rayner insisted that British support for Ukraine was 'unwavering'

Rayner insists UK support for Ukraine 'unwavering' despite Trump's plan for 'immediate' peace talks with Putin

Prince William, President of BAFTA, operates a film camera as he visits the London Screen Academy in London, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool)

William tries his hand at being a cameraman on visit to London film academy

President Donald J. Trump participates in a bilateral meeting with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin during the G20 Japan Summit Friday, June 28, 2019, in Osaka, Japan.

Trump and Putin 'to meet in Saudi Arabia' and 'start negotiations immediately' to end war in Ukraine

Street scene in Peckham, London, with red bus

Bus driver, 76, found guilty of killing passenger who was run over while attempting to board vehicle

Norward Road, Lambeth, the proposed LTN.

Council staff given 'wellbeing day' after attending 'stormy' neighbourhood meeting

United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, left, shakes hands with Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey prior to a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of a NATO defense ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Feb.

Ukraine's NATO membership plans 'unrealistic' says US - as defence secretary claims US troops won't be peacekeepers

Jaysley Beck, 19, was found dead at Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire

Officer accused of pinning down and trying to kiss soldier, 19, had been 'waiting for moment for them to be alone'

A public inquiry into the Nottingham attacks will begin 'within weeks'

Public inquiry into Nottingham attacks will begin 'within weeks', PM tells victims' families

Paul Allen.

Cagefighter guilty of Britain's largest cash robbery shot in neck in his kitchen in murder plot