David Davis, the minister tasked with negotiating Brexit, has distanced himself from Boris Johnson and the Leave campaign’s pledge to spend £350 million more on the NHS after exiting the EU.

In further signs of differences between the pair, Mr Davis pointedly refused to endorse the slogan, which had appeared on the side of the official Leave campaign’s bus.

Instead Mr Davis, who voted for Brexit, told a committee of MPs that he “made no such pledge” during the referendum– an implicit criticism of those senior Tories who endorsed the promise.

It is another indication that the pledge to spend more on healthcare after leaving the EU made by some Eurosceptics before the vote will not be taken as binding by Theresa May’s government.