LESS THAN 24 hours after British voters took away Theresa May’s majority, a group of powerful Tory insiders asked Ruth Davidson to step up replace her beleaguered boss, according to a new book.

According to Fall Out: A Year of Political Mayhem, the two previous Tory prime ministers, David Cameron and Sir John Major, along with Home Secretary Amber Rudd, and former Chancellor George Osborne were among the group who asked the Edinburgh MSP to consider standing.

Davidson reportedly declined, saying: “It’s not just that I don’t want it. It’s that it can’t be done,” she said. “You can’t have someone who’s not in the House of Commons and you can’t have someone who’s never been in the House of Commons being PM.

“You can’t have somebody who’s not done a big job take over at a time of national crisis. It’s preposterous.”

The explosive book, by the Sunday Times journalist Tim Shipman, will make for awkward reading ahead of the Tory conference next week.

According to the book, as the results started to come in on election, showing that the sensational exit poll prediction of no overall control for the Tories, Chancellor Philip Hammond reached out to Boris Johnson, offering support for a leadership bid.

He suggested they could rule as a “triumvirate at the top of government”. Johnson would be the front man, while Davis would keep hold of Brexit and Hammond remained at the Treasury.

“DD’s [David Davis] now in a better place on Brexit and the three of us could do it,” the chancellor suggested.

“He thought DD could run Brexit, he could run the economy and Boris could run the shop,” a source familiar with the conversations told Shipman.

Hammond felt himself “too grey” for the top job. “I don’t think he particularly wants it and [the triumvirate was] what he saw as the solution,” the friend said.

The chancellor did not want to join a coup, pushing May out, but if she was to go, as seemingly widely expected in the party the day after the election, he was prepared to move quickly.

“I don’t think he urged Boris to do it,” the Hammond ally said. “He said: ‘Well, what are you going to do?’ Boris just sort of bungled it. It was all very fluid and there wasn’t a clarity over what Theresa was going to do.”

However, despite what Hammond may have wanted, Davis was seemingly not interested in joining the triumvirate as the undercard. “DD was very unhappy with that proposition,” a cabinet source said. “It all unravelled.”

What makes the revelation so surprising is that the two men represents different wings of the cabinet, with Johnson a gung-ho Brexiteer and Hammond a much more cautious and pragmatic remainer.

Disagreements between both ministers have dominated the Government’s handling of Brexit, though a truce was seemingly brokered last week ahead of May’s speech in Florence asking EU leaders for a two-year transition.

The fragile truce, however, has seemingly broken down, after friends of Johnson claimed he had successfully stopped May calling for a five year transition and backing the so-called “Norway option”, which would see Britain still paying to have access to the single market.

Johnson’s friends said both those had been advocated by Hammond, and the fact they weren’t in the Prime Minister’s Florence address was a victory for the Foreign Secretary.

Allies of the chancellor insisted this was a figment of Johnson’s imagination and that Hammond had not been pushing such a plan.

Downing Street also denied the claims, with senior government sources insisting there had never been the prospect of a four- or five-year transition period.

Senior Tories fear Johnson could leave cabinet at any moment. Others suggest he is attempting to become a Brexit martyr by getting himself fired by the Prime Minister.

In the wake of the election, and May’s poor handling of the Grenfell Tower blaze, around 20 MPs are believed to have signed a letter calling for the Prime Minister to go immediately.

Yesterday, the Sunday Times, reported sources saying there were now 50 Tory MPs who want May out. Only 48 are needed to force a vote of no confidence in her leadership.