Theresa May is expecting Boris Johnson to remain in her Cabinet as Foreign Secretary, Downing Street has said.

The statement was made after Mr Johnson dismissed suggestions that he might be on the verge of quitting and denied the Cabinet is split over Brexit, insisting: "We are a nest of singing birds."

Mrs May has called a special meeting of Cabinet at Number 10 on Thursday to discuss her crunch Brexit speech in Italy the following day, which a Downing Street source said would be "a significant moment" in the process of Britain's withdrawal from the EU.

Mrs May and Mr Johnson are at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, but her spokesman said they had not met since the Foreign Secretary's intervention.

Their schedules do not coincide until Wednesday when Mr Johnson is due to be in the audience for Mrs May's formal address to the UN, and he is not due to join the PM at a reception for Commonwealth leaders on Tuesday evening, the spokesman said.

Asked whether she was confident that ministers at the meeting would be united behind her strategy, Mrs May told Sky News: "Yes, the Cabinet is absolutely clear about the destination we are aiming for in relation to our European negotiations.