Boris Johnson has been photographed on a run with Sun editor Tony Gallagher on the streets of Manchester, where his colleagues are gathered for the annual Tory party conference.
The foreign secretary, who has overshadowed the conference with rumours of a leadership bid, is a paid columnist for the Daily Telegraph.
However, as HuffPost UK politics executive editor Paul Waugh points out in his Waugh Zone email this morning, “The Sun is seen as Johnson’s secret weapon (it was a crucial backer through the Brexit referendum) in targeting the voters the Tories need”.
Some pointed out that Johnson’s choice of running partner demonstrated the close relationship between politics and the media...
It comes after Philip Hammond insisted “nobody is unsackable” just a day after Theresa May tried to laugh off questions of Cabinet indiscipline.
During a round of interviews ahead of his speech at the Conservative Party conference, the chancellor was repeatedly asked about the behaviour of foreign secretary Boris Johnson - who has staged major interventions of Brexit and domestic policy in recent weeks.
Hammond was clear that Cabinet members owed the prime minister their loyalty, and tried to brush off Johnson’s behaviour by saying: “Boris is Boris”.
The chancellor also denied texting Johnson on the morning of the election offering him support for any leadership bid.
Irritation surfaced after the Johnson set out fresh ‘red lines’ over Brexit and fresh reports emerged that he believed the prime minister would be gone from office within a year.
One senior Cabinet minister told HuffPost UK that Johnson was ruining his own leadership ambitions, just a little over a year after he failed to gather enough supporters to win the Tory crown himself in 2016.
Despite this, a new ConservativeHome poll put Johnson back in top spot as activists’ choice to be leader.