International Development Secretary Priti Patel was rebuked by the Prime Minister after saying none of her department’s budget should go to the UN’s cultural body, Unesco, in the wake of concerns it had misspent public money.

According to The Sun newspaper, a senior Government source said: “No 10 went crazy when they found out, because Theresa’s priority is maintaining good relations with other world leaders to get a good Brexit deal. So Priti got a major wrap over the knuckles and is smarting about it.”

The Department for International Development is mandated to spend 0.7 per cent of GDP on foreign aid. Forty per cent of that budget – £4.5bn – is spent via international organisations like Unesco. Theresa May is working hard to maintain positive diplomatic relations with the rest of the world, as the UK seeks to build trade bridges after it leaves the European Union.

Ms Patel believes the UK must be prepared to publicly walk away from international bodies who are shown to spend public money inefficiently. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is understood to have said that to do so would weaken the UK’s international standing.