Tory MP who wrote his own glowing statement told ‘it needs a little rewriting’

Last week, it was revealed what Tory MP Sir Alan Duncan really thought about Boris Johnson during the EU referendum campaign.

Today, it has emerged what Sir Alan Duncan really thought about Sir Alan Duncan during the EU referendum campaign.

In a book by David Cameron's former communications director Sir Craig Oliver, Sir Alan is revealed to have drafted a somewhat immodest statement that he believed the Remain campaign should issue when he formally declared his support for the EU.

It reads: “In a major blow to the campaign to leave the EU, senior Tory MP Sir Alan Duncan has today announced we should remain a member. As one of the few undeclared MPs, he is seen as an experienced and reasonable figure of influence.

“Known as a longstanding but thoughtful Eurosceptic, his declaration will be seen to have a pivotal bearing on the many voters who are still undecided.

“To have won over such a senior and experienced political figure will be seen as a significant coup both for the Prime Minister and the campaign to remain, all the more so as Alan Duncan is seen as independent-minded and someone who cannot be pushed around.”

In the book, Sir Craig writes underneath: “We tell him: ‘Maybe it needs a little rewriting.’”

Last week, it was revealed Sir Alan, now a Foreign Office minister, said Mr Johnson wanted to lose the referendum and only campaigned for Brexit to become the Tory “heir apparent”.

Mr Duncan, who campaigned for Remain, told a BBC documentary to be broadcast on Thursday night: “I’ve always thought that Boris’s wish was to lose so that he could be the heir apparent without having to have all the… you know, s-h-i-t of clearing up all the mess, that’s always been my view of Boris.”

The book also says that Theresa May consistently refused to back David Cameron’s campaign to keep Britain in the EU, leading to major tension between the pair.

Ms May is accused of adopting a “sphinx-like” approach to the campaign that served her career well in the post-referendum chaos, despite her stance potentially doing untold damage to Remain’s hopes of victory.

The memoir, Unleashing Demons: The Inside Story Of Brexit, serialised in The Mail on Sunday, also claims Mr Johnson sent a text to Mr Cameron warning him that he would be campaigning for Leave, only to send a second message suggesting he could back Remain.