Boris Johnson plans to ‘reboot’ his embattled Government by sacking his Commons ‘enforcer’ in an attempt to repair the fractured relations between No 10 and his restless Parliamentary party.

Sources said that after last week’s revolt by nearly 100 Tories over Covid restrictions, the Prime Minister was planning to ‘clear out’ the Whips Office, including Chief Whip Mark Spencer, in a small, targeted reshuffle.

Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg, who with Mr Spencer helped to persuade Mr Johnson to back Owen Paterson in the sleaze row that caused another revolt and led to the loss of North Shropshire in Thursday’s by-election, is seen as vulnerable.

The hunt is also under way for a potential replacement for Mr Johnson’s Chief of Staff Dan Rosenfeld as Mr Johnson heeds calls to make the No 10 operation more muscular and experienced. 

Although the coming months are expected to still be dominated by Covid and the booster campaign as cases surge, the Prime Minister is hoping to reinject momentum into his domestic agenda by publishing the delayed ‘Levelling Up’ White Paper.

It has been written by the Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove and Andy Haldane, the former chief economist at the Bank of England. 

Their plans – to redistribute resources from the wealthy south to deprived areas – are expected to include the proposal to replace all 24 existing county councils and 181 district councils with elected mayoralties and create American-style governors for rural areas.

It has been claimed that Mr Johnson was angered that the plans, which are an effective manifesto for the second part of his Premiership, were too ‘blue sky’ and lacking in concrete detail.