Chancellor Sajid Javid is meeting Boris Johnson every week to map out the March 11 budget

Boris Johnson’s team has seized control of budget preparations amid claims that the chancellor, Sajid Javid, called for the sacking of Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s most senior aide.

Two senior Tories said Javid phoned colleagues on general election day in December, warning that the result was unlikely to be a large majority and Cummings should be removed if that were the case.

One of those he is alleged to have spoken to is said to have contacted Cummings. In the end, Johnson won a “stonking” victory by 80 seats.

The chancellor, who led calls for Theresa May to sack her chiefs of staff, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, after the 2017 election debacle, “categorically denies” the claims, an aide said.

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