Rishi Sunak is yet to appoint a new chairman of the Conservative Party following the sacking of Nadhim Zahawi on Sunday. A number of names have been floated for the job - and one of them has been Boris Johnson. 

However, Richard Holden, a transport minister, suggested this morning that Mr Johnson would not want the job. 

He told Sky News: "I am convinced that the Prime Minister will make a sensible and clear decision on the future. 

"I don’t think in fairness this is something that Boris would want to do. He seems to be quite happy doing what he is doing at the moment."

Richard Holden, a transport minister, said he believed the UK can "outperform" the IMF's latest economic forecasts as he argued that ultimately the "proof will be in the pudding". 

Asked if the IMF has got it wrong, Mr Holden told Sky News: "They did in the last couple of years and I think Britain can outperform its predictions like it has done for the last two years."

Asked again if he believed the IMF is wrong, the minister said: "I think so and the IMF has also changed its mind on some of these aspects before and the figures have shown that the IMF were wrong. 

"That’s why when we were predicted to be slower growing than other countries actually we have been quicker than say Germany and Japan and I think we can still outperform over the next few years as well."

The International Monetary Fund has forecast in a new report that the UK is on course to be the only major economy to shrink this year (you can read the full story here). 

Richard Holden, a transport minister, dismissed the report and said the IMF has been "wrong" in the past. He said he believed the UK can "beat those predictions". 

He told Times Radio: "That is a forecast, not what has actually happened. If you actually look what has happened over the last year we have actually outperformed Germany, we have outperformed Japan."

Asked if he believed the IMF is wrong, he said: "Well, they have been wrong in the last two years. The OECD were also wrong over the last two years. I think that Britain can beat those predictions. That is what we have done over the last couple of years. 

"In fairness to the IMF they have said that the measures we have taken over the last couple of years have moved us broadly in the right direction. 

"But I want to see the results of this, just like we have seen over the last years, they were also predicting we weren’t going to do that well earlier this year and the year before. I want to see the outcomes rather than predictions about the future."