Downing Street has not refuted claims that Boris Johnson spoke with aides about getting wife Carrie Johnson two top jobs while Prime Minister.
Mr Johnson discussed environmental roles for his wife in autumn 2020, either for the Cop26 summit or with the Royal Family, sources told the Daily Mirror.
The latest claim followed reports Mr Johnson tried to hire her as his chief of staff when he was Foreign Secretary in 2018.
The Prime Minister allegedly went on to suggest securing her a role as green ambassador in the run-up to Cop26 or as communications director for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Earthshot Prize.
Downing Street said he had never recommended Mrs Johnson for a Government role, but stopped short of denying that he considered or discussed the move.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “The Prime Minister has never recommended Mrs Johnson for a Government role, or one as part of the Earthshot Prize.
“Beyond that I wouldn’t get into any conversations the Prime Minister may or may not have had in private.”
The renewed questioning over whether Mr Johnson has wielded his influence to try to secure his now-wife a job came after controversy over the removal of a newspaper report.
The Times first reported on Saturday that Mr Johnson tried to hire Mrs Johnson in the Foreign Office, but the article was removed from later editions.
Downing Street admitted there were conversations between No 10 and the paper after its initial publication and before it was pulled.
Mrs Johnson’s spokeswoman insisted the allegations in the Times’s story were “totally untrue”.
But the veteran journalist behind the story, Simon Walters, stood by it “100%”, saying he did not receive an on-the-record denial during discussions with No 10 before publication.
Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s former chief aide, supported the report and alleged Mr Johnson also wanted to appoint his wife to a Government job in late 2020.
