I doubt Tory high command would want Boris as their leader

They include two former Conservative Party leaders, Lord (Michael) Howard and Iain Duncan Smith, Work and Pensions Secretary, former Chancellor Lord Lawson and Michael Gove, the Justice Secretary, among others. And Duncan Smith is furious that he is being denied by his own officials a sighting of relevant Government papers.

But is David Cameron attaching too much importance to Boris Johnson’s decision to jump into the fray, siding with Brexit? Many regard Johnson as an agreeable buffoon, whose decision to join the battle has more to do with his alleged desire to become Tory leader than anything else.

Johnson, assiduously ruffled, with his comical pudding-basin haircut and ready wit, is a source of public amusement. But would the Conservative hierarchy really want this man as their leader? I think not. Nor do I believe the great British electorate will be much influenced by his intervention.

Remember, the London Mayor was not exactly the tough guy when it came to dealing with militant London Underground workers.

The man Cameron should fear most is Duncan Smith, who was a constant thorn in the flesh of the then Prime Minister, John Major, over Europe. He has indicated he is willing to get sacked over this issue.

Meanwhile, are the pro-Europeans getting rattled? The normally dry-as-dust Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, “his blood boiling”, has already sworn at a prominent Brexit figure.

In short, there will be oceans of political blood flowing on the carpets in the House of Commons between now and June 23, the day of this historic referendum.

• Mixed messages for the Chancellor, George Osborne, concerning his forthcoming Budget.

On the one hand, we hear that the International Monetary Fund is praising the United Kingdom’s recovery.

And then, almost in the next breath, we read that Osborne is planning more big cuts. A far cry from the jaunty, bubbling Chancellor when he delivered his upbeat autumn statement late last year. Of course, our wily politicians are not above making a forthcoming Budget sound grim, so that when it is delivered, it will be seen as something approaching a bonanza.

The shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, who, incidentally, is proving far more effective in that job than many people suspected he would, has castigated the Chancellor over this last development.

Come Budget Day, we will discover who is right and who is wrong - and, more importantly, who is telling the truth.

• The Prime Minister surprised everyone with his unexpected attack on the alleged scruffiness of Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Opposition, but it is not the first time that sartorial issues - as Tony Benn would have said - have come to the fore at Westminster.

Once the late William Price, Labour MP for Rugby, delivered a speech to the Commons wearing a voluminous, ill-fitting raincoat. The roof was not leaking, and it was not raining anyway.

So what was the reason? It appears that Price had paid a quick visit to the gents just before he was due to make a speech. Alas, he snarled up his trousers zip, leaving a gaping and embarrassing aperture in a very delicate area.

The resourceful Price grabbed a raincoat - not his own- from a nearby peg and delivered his speech to a baffled audience in a manner that artfully concealed his problem.