Former Rutland MP Sir Alan Duncan has launched a series of 'astonishing personal attacks' on Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The MP, who stood down at the 2019 General Election, had served as Mr Johnson's deputy when he was foreign secretary.

The attacks are revealed in a serialisation of Sir Alan's memoirs, which start in today's Daily Mail.

The newspaper describes the memoirs as "explosive", saying they reveal "vicious Tory infighting."

Sir Alan describes Mr Johnson as a 'buffoon' and says they had a blazing row over a Press report about diplomats treating him as an 'international joke'.

When Mr Johnson asked,: 'Why don't they take me seriously?' Sir Alan replied: 'Look in the ****ing mirror!'

The memoir called "In The Thick Of It", the paper added "is as candid, caustic and colourful as the sensational Alan Clark Diaries of the 1990s."

Sir Alan, who was first elected to the safe Conservative seat of Rutland and Melton, saw at first hand how the government of Theresa May, a friend since university, collapsed in chaos.

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The Daily Mail said: "It is unprecedented for a politician to lift the lid on feuding in the corridors of power so soon after leaving office."

The newspaper today also recalls "Frightened rabbit" Theresa May and her "walking dead" Cabinet.

When publisher Harper Collins announced the memoirs, as reported by Nub News, Sir Alan commented: " "My mantra is 'always be a happy politician'. A sure protection against fury and frustration is to vent onto the page by writing everything down.

"That's how these diaries arose – both for therapy in the moment, and as a lasting insurance against the brain-fade of age. They offered me a fulfilling medium through which to record the dramas of my daily life."

He added: ""To combine being a foreign minister with working closely with Boris Johnson and Theresa May, against a backdrop of a divisive issue and a fractured parliament, proved to be the richest possible stimulus.

"I hope they are as much a source of entertainment as they are an accurate account of this crucial period in our recent political history."