What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Embattled Boris Johnson has dropped a huge hint he could quit as Foreign Secretary as pressure mounts over his row with Theresa May.

The Cabinet Minister signalled he was ready to walk away amid the growing row at the heart of Government over his latest botched intervention.

Mrs May was forced to publicly slap down Mr Johnson after he published a 4,000-word vision for Brexit - upstaging her own speech due this Friday.

She said: "This Government is driven from the front."

Tonight Mr Johnson told reporters at the United Nations in New York: “When the burden of office is lifted from my shoulders I will of course look back with great pride on my time doing all sorts of things.”

(Image: REUTERS) (Image: REUTERS)

Asked directly if he would resign, he failed to deny he was considering standing down.

He would only say: "I think you may be barking up the wrong tree.”

Speaking to the BBC, he tried to to quell part of the row he revived when he penned a 4,000-word article setting out his own Brexit vision just days before the PM's speech in Florence.

Mr Johnson had said there was no need for the UK to pumping cash into the Brussels budget after the UK quits the bloc in March 2019.

But he suggested he was open to still paying during a transition.

"Let us not try and find rows where there are really not rows,” he said.

(Image: AFP)

"I perfectly understand that we have to honour legal obligations.

“What I am trying to do is in advance of the Prime Minster’s speech.

“People want to know where are going. It is good to have a bit of a opening drum roll about what this country can do.”

He also hit back at claims he was "backseat driving", saying: "There's one driver in this car... it's Theresa."

As well as infuriating Theresa May, Mr Johnson's piece also prompted a slapdown from Britain's statistics watchdog.

(Image: REUTERS)

The authority branded the Foreign Secretary's claim the UK can take back control of £350m a week "a clear misuse" of official figures.

As the row escalated today Mr Johnson's dad waded into the row.

Stanley Johnson claimed his son's writing was simply "an inspired piece of serious thoughtful journalism."

He said his son could happily resign, telling Sky News: "This is such an important issue that I would have thought he would be happy happy happy to walk away from the whole thing, if indeed that's what he had to do."