Boris Johnson has been branded an unacceptable candidate to be prime minister by the Conservative minister Margot James, because of his “fuck business” remark when asked about companies’ concerns over Brexit.

James, a business minister and leading member of the One Nation Conservative group, said the comment meant Johnson was not fit for “high public office” as she addressed a Creative England event in London.

Speaking later to the Guardian, she said some of her colleagues promoting Brexit at any cost to business had the “wrong attitude”.

“I don’t think people in the public eye should be using language like that to discuss the concerns of the business community,” she said. “It’s the dismissive attitude to business that’s a problem among some people for whom Brexit is everything.”

She said another pro-Brexit leadership hopeful had privately been dismissive about businesses’ concerns to her, saying: “Oh, the tech industry is always moaning.”

She said: “That these people should be anywhere near the levers of power is quite worrying.”

Johnson was reported to have made the “fuck business” remark in July last year when asked about industry’s concerns over Brexit at a diplomatic event.

He later refused to deny he had made the comments, acknowledging in the Commons that he may have “expressed scepticism about some of the views of those who profess to speak up for business”.

It comes at a time when the One Nation group is flexing its muscles and putting pressure on Tory leadership candidates not to swing too far to the right.

The 60-strong group of MPs also includes Amber Rudd, George Freeman, Nicky Morgan and Damian Green. It launched a mini-manifesto on Monday espousing human rights, social responsibility and the fight against injustice.

Earlier in the week, James said she thought it would be difficult for the group to back any leadership candidate that supported a no-deal Brexit.

Quick guide Tory leadership contenders Show Hide Jeremy Hunt His style is notably technocratic, with few rhetorical flourishes and an emphasis on his consensual approach and long record as a minister, notably during more than five years as health secretary, a traditional graveyard of ministerial careers. Hunt’s attempts to talk up a backstory as an 'underestimated' entrepreneur can fall flat given he is also the son of an admiral and was head boy at Charterhouse. Overall, Hunt’s approach can seem uninspiring and hard to pin down in terms of core beliefs, hence the 'Theresa in trousers' nickname among some Tory MPs – one that is more catchy than accurate (since May herself often wears trousers). In the final round of MP voting Hunt edged out Michael Gove, 77 votes to 75. Boris Johnson Johnson’s progress to Downing Street appeared unstoppable even before an overwhelming victory in the first round of voting among MPs. Most of his colleagues believe it is now all but inevitable that he will be Britain’s next prime minister. His well-disciplined campaign team will continue with their strategy of subjecting him to minimal media exposure, though once the field is narrowed down to two, the final pair will appear in more than a dozen head-to-head hustings for Tory members. The team’s main aim is simply to keep heads down and avoid Johnson creating headlines for the wrong reasons. It may not have worked. Johnson came first in the final round of MP voting with 160 votes.



“I think it would be difficult for a candidate who would let the country leave without a deal to subscribe to quite a lot of those values [in the manifesto] and the policies that flow from them,” she said.

“I don’t think many candidates are going to stand up and say: ‘I think the country should leave without a deal.’

“But there are candidates who will go out of their way to make sure the country doesn’t leave without a deal and that is what we need to ensure we get out of this leadership contest.”