The Prime Minister has been under intense scrutiny following a number of media leaks. His premiership has been undermined in recent days by accusations he made crude comments about coronavirus deaths and the sharing of his personal text messages with journalists.
The leaks have left No10 fighting fires on multiple fronts, with officials constantly left having to defend the Prime Minister’s conduct in office.
There are concerns a lack of longstanding trusted aides around Mr Johnson has left him exposed.
Since September last year the Prime Minister has lost Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill, his director of communications Lee Cain, his chief adviser Dominic Cummings, and one of his closest aides and chief of staff, Sir Eddie Lister.
Dan Rosenfield, his new chief of staff, is relatively inexperienced having only previously served as a Principal Private Secretary in Treasury ten years ago.
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Meanwhile, the Cabinet Secretary, Simon Case, has also only been in post since September 2020 and is the youngest person to ever hold the position.
Express.co.uk understands Mr Case’s appointment was met with raised eyebrows among more senior civil servants who believe he lacks the necessary years of service to succeed in the role.
Fearing Mr Johnson is “uncontrollable”, a source told The Guardian: “The Prime Minister is being failed here.
“There need to be interventions from his team but that isn’t happening.
“These are the moments when it matters – having people who can say no.
“He is surrounded now by people he doesn’t particularly trust or particularly know.”
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In recent days Mr Johnson has been accused of saying he’d rather “bodies pile high” than order a third lockdown, being too liberal at handing out his phone number to those seeking to influence his decision making, and of using a loan from the Conservative Party to pay for renovations to his Downing Street flat – potentially illegally.
No10 has denied any wrongdoing with the Prime Minister’s official spokesman branding accusations Mr Johnson made remarks about letting Covid deaths “pile” as “utter rubbish”.
He also said Mr Johnson was paying for the flat renovations himself.
However, he refused to be drawn on whether he had broken ministerial rules by failing to declare he had used a loan for the work.
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Yesterday the Cabinet Secretary was hauled in front of MPs to face questions about Mr Johnson’s conduct and the leaks from No10.
However, Mr Case left MPs enraged after refusing to answer questions onto ongoing inquiries, risking undermining efforts from Downing Street to put a plug in the story.
There are currently investigations being held into the leaking of Mr Johnson’s texts, the leak of plans to hold a second lockdown last autumn and the flat refurbishment.
His performance left MPs on the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee furious at the lack of answers, only escalating the anger facing No10.
One member of the committee told this website Mr Case’s evidence as “tedious” and questioning him was “like pulling teeth out”.
Mr Johnson thanked the Cabinet Secretary for his performance at a meeting of his top team this morning.
While Tory colleagues have sought to defend the Prime Minister in the midst of the onslaught of criticism, Labour has heaped pressure on Mr Johnson demanding answers.
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth described the alleged remarks made by Mr Johnson as “sickening”.
He added: “They are disgusting, they are crass, they are wrong.”
Meanwhile, the opposition party has called for a full investigation by the Electoral Commission into the refurbishment of the Downing Street flat to determine if any laws were broken.
