Downing Street has confirmed members of Boris Johnson's team intervened after a newspaper published a report that he wanted to hire his now wife for a plum Foreign Office job.
Early copies of The Times on Saturday included claims that Mr Johnson had sought to appoint Carrie Symonds, as she was then known, as his chief of staff when he was Foreign Secretary.
But the story disappeared from later editions of the newspaper. The claim had previously been reported in Tory peer Lord Ashcroft's biography of Mrs Johnson.
Mrs Johnson said the claim was "totally untrue" and No10 sources said it was a "grubby, discredited story".
The Prime Minister's official spokesman confirmed that members of the PM's team spoke to The Times before and after publication of the story but said Mr Johnson had not been involved.
The spokesman said: "I think my political colleagues over the weekend made clear that the story is not true, as has Mrs Johnson's spokesperson."
He confirmed that No10 had spoken to the newspaper after the initial publication of the story.
"We were approached before publication, that's when we spoke to them then. I think we spoke to them after publication as well."
Asked if the PM had spoken to the editor of the paper lately, the spokesman said: "I don't believe so."
The report built on the claim in Lord Ashcroft book 'First Lady', which was serialised in the Daily Mail, that allies dissuaded Mr Johnson from appointing Ms Symonds, a former Tory press chief, to the £100,000-a-year post.
Mr Johnson was still married to his wife Marina Wheeler at the time but the pair split later that year and he was linked to Ms Symonds.
She moved to Downing Street with him when he became Prime Minister in 2019 and the couple later married and had two children.
Mrs Johnson's spokeswoman denied the allegations, telling the Guardian: “These claims are totally untrue."
No10 declined to comment on the record but a source told the paper: "This is a grubby, discredited story turned down by most reputable media outlets because it isn’t true. The facts speak for themselves."
But the report's author Simon Walters, an experienced political journalist, stood by his piece.
He told the Guardian: "I stand by the story. I went to all the relevant people over two days.
"Nobody offered me an on-the-record denial and Downing St didn’t deny it off the record either."
He restated his position to the Mirror separately.
A source close to the PM told the Mirror that the story was "obviously" true.
Former No10 aide Dominic Cummings, who has gone to war with his old boss, also claimed the story was true.
He tweeted: "The 'missing story' (pulled by Times after no10 call Fri night) is true.
"[Simon] Walters repeatedly published accurate stories, e.g on illegal donations. Times pathetic to have folded & shd reverse ferret. Truth is worse!"
The Times declined to comment.
