Boris Johnson will “show some love” to public-sector workers with a pay rise to “properly reward” them for the job they do, one of his key cabinet allies has promised.

Matt Hancock, the health secretary who is also in the team planning Mr Johnson’s first 100 days in office if he becomes Tory leader, said that public-sector staff were doing a “brilliant job for the country” and deserve a “fair” pay rise.

He told The Times that the days of “pay freezes” under Theresa May and David Cameron were over.

The promise came after Mr Johnson vowed to turn on the spending taps if he became prime minister by cutting taxes, raising the national living wage and increasing borrowing to fund “great projects”. The former