RIVALS TRADE INSULTS OVER CHEVENING & CHOPPERS

THE phoney war over the Tory leadership – in which the contenders profess public loyalty to Theresa May while secretly trying to work out how long she’s got – has broken out into open skirmish attacks between rival camps. The two early frontrunners, Boris Johnson and David Davis, both have MPs and advisers around them whose own ambitions are intricately tied up with their masters – and who are not shy about spreading disobliging rumours about their rivals. Allies of the Foreign Secretary blame supporters of Mr Davis for a claim last week that Mr Johnson was using his grace and favour country home Chevening (shared by Mr Davis and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox) for ‘plotting’ last weekend. But a Boris ally says: ‘That’s ridiculous. He was there celebrating his 53rd birthday and the leadership did not crop up.’ In return, Mr Davis faces claims that he ‘bangs on’ about being in the SAS – he was in the Territorial Army’s 21 SAS Regiment – and accusations he failed to pull his weight during the Election he urged Mrs May to hold. One source said: ‘Davis infuriated the bosses at Tory HQ by refusing to leave his Yorkshire constituency for the Sunday morning political programmes unless they provided a helicopter.’ But a spokesman for Mr Davis said: ‘I don’t recognise the helicopter claim. David only goes on those television programmes if he has a story to tell.’ POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

IN THE RUNNING: Boris Johnson is accused of plotting in Chevening, above, while David Davis, left, is said to have demanded helicopter trips Team Boris sock it to Davis over diva demands for helicopter to ferry him to TV shows