Britain's spies are ‘wary’ of sharing information with Boris Johnson because they do not trust the Foreign Secretary, it was claimed last night.

Officials at the Foreign Office are also unhappy with Mr Johnson’s style and behaviour, according to the political journal New Statesman.

Yesterday the Foreign Secretary was forced to defend his approach to humour, hitting back at suggestions his jokes were damaging Britain’s relationships with other countries.

Officials at the Foreign Office are also unhappy with Mr Johnson’s style and behaviour, according to the political journal New Statesman

He told MPs: ‘Telling jokes is often a very effective way of getting a diplomatic message across.’

It came after Tory MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, warned Mr Johnson that it was ‘really, really hard to do cross-cultural humour’.

Mr Johnson was criticised last month for saying that the Libyan town of Sirte – a former Islamic State stronghold – could be ‘the next Dubai’ once they ‘clear the dead bodies away’.

Last night the Left-wing New Statesman revealed a string of diplomats had little confidence in the Foreign Secretary’s style.

Mr Johnson was criticised last month for saying that the Libyan town of Sirte – a former Islamic State stronghold – could be ‘the next Dubai’ once they ‘clear the dead bodies away’

The article said: ‘Even his ministerial team at the Foreign Office is said to be unhappy.

‘The intelligence services are believed to be wary of sharing sensitive information with him, and on occasion relations with his instinctively Europhile civil servants have been strained.’

It quotes one source as saying: ‘There are moments when he says, “Come on, we’ve got to make this work. Stop being gloom-mongers.”’

Former Hong Kong governor Lord Patten said: ‘He seems unable to pursue a serious argument without resorting to mop-headed witticisms.

‘If you were concerned about the principles and vision and long-term interests of Britain, you would not regard him as your pin-up. This is an office once held by people like Carrington, Hurd, Douglas-Home, Callaghan and Bevin. What on Earth has become of us?’

Former Tory MP Lord Patten also accused Mr Johnson of spreading fake news when he was The Daily Telegraph’s Brussels correspondent. ‘As a journalist in Brussels, he was one of the greatest exponents of fake journalism,’ he said.

A former British ambassador called him ‘the least deserving and least qualified foreign secretary of modern times, who has successfully lived down to all expectations’. Another said: ‘Churchill would have thought he was a second-rate chancer.’

A senior European diplomat said Mr Johnson was ‘not taken seriously as a foreign policy actor’ and was damaging British interests – while many of his European counterparts ‘positively dislike him’.

Sir Nigel Sheinwald, a former ambassador to the US and the European Union, said: ‘His style gets in the way of handling foreign relations in a serious, responsible way at a time of real difficulty for this country.

‘I don’t think he’s been at all helpful to the UK national interest, and I think that’s very regrettable indeed.’

Mr Johnson appeared before Mr Tugendhat’s committee yesterday, where he said it was ‘a little bit condescending’ to think those in other countries did not have a sense of humour.

‘Sometimes actually people greatly appreciate you are talking to them in an informal way while subtly getting the point across,’ Mr Johnson said.