MPs said the prime minister had gestured at the idea of tax cuts to help struggling families, including at a Downing Street garden party for backbenchers.
The chair of the Northern Research Group, Jake Berry, told Sky News Johnson was "showing more than a bit of ankle” to colleagues on tax cuts.
A Treasury source played down the idea, however, suggesting that in his conversations with MPs, Johnson had
simply been "echoing the chancellor's ambition to cut taxes for people," which Rishi Sunak had set out at his spring statement.
It followed Johnson's suggestion in the House of Commons on Tuesday that he and Sunak would say more about the cost of living "in the coming days”, which led to speculation of an imminent Treasury statement.
One former minister said Johnson's comments to colleagues had not seemed fully formed or coordinated with the Treasury, and said it added weight to the prospect that Sunak could be moved at a reshuffle in the summer.
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