Boris Johnson accused of 'misuse of official statistics' by chief UK statistician

Boris Johnson has come under fire after a 4,000-word opus on a post-Brexit utopia penned by the Foreign Secretary was published on Friday evening, throwing him firmly back into the Brexit fray.

The timing of Johnson's letter was considered to be quite questionable as it came just seven days before the Prime Minister was set to outline her own vision for Britain's divorce from the UK, and just hours after she had raised the nation's threat level following another alleged terrorist incident in London.

Sir David Norgrove, head of the UK's Statistics Authority, lambasted Johnson for his reiteration of the claim that the UK would benefit to the tune of £350m per week after leaving the EU, leading to a tête-à-tête of sorts between the pair.

Johnson retaliated by saying Norgrove was guilty of "willful distortion of my article," claiming he had misrepresented him and demanded his comments be withdrawn.

Despite Minister for the Cabinet Office Damian Green saying Boris' comments would not cost him his job, his manifesto still generated a considerable backlash as accusations of him undermining the Prime Minister swirled.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd accused him of "backseat driving", Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson suggested lawmakers should be focused on "service" after the incident at Parsons Green, allies of Michael Gove denied the Secretary of Environment had any prior knowledge of Jonson's intention to publish his statement despite claims he was supportive of the decision, the UK's statistics watchdog accused him of a "clear misuse of official statistics", and several unnamed Tory lawmakers told the Mail on Sunday and the Observer they believed the former Mayor of London should be ousted from the Cabinet.

A senior Whitehall official told the Guardian that Johnson's manifesto would create further difficulties for the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU), and also claimed it would make Theresa May's attempts at striking the right tone at her upcoming major speech to be delivered in Florence on Friday.

In an effort to rectify some of the damage done, Johnson then took to Twitter in an effort to prove he was still a team player:

Despite some anger from Cabinet colleagues, one of which accused Boris of putting his "personal ambition before the interests of the country," Downing Street insisted that Johnson had not contradicted government policy, although there was some irritation he had not cleared the article before its publication on Friday.