Boris Johnson did say he would rather ‘bodies pile high in their thousands’ than announce a third lockdown, two further sources have claimed.

The Prime Minister denied making the shocking comments, first reported by the Daily Mail, during a visit to Wales today.

He said: ‘No, but I think the important thing I think people want us to get on and do as a Government is to make sure that the lockdowns work.’

The PM allegedly said the remark in a fiery outburst after reluctantly implementing the second national lockdown at the end of last year.

No 10 labelled the claim ‘just another lie’ but ITV’s Robert Peston has come forward with two ‘ear witnesses’ who ‘corroborated’ the Mail’s account.

The journalist wrote: ‘I am told [Boris Johnson] shouted it in his study just after he agreed to the second lockdown “in a rage”.

‘The doors to the Cabinet room and outer office were allegedly open and supposedly a number of people heard.

‘I am bothering to repeat this assertion about what the Prime Minister said because two eyewitnesses – or perhaps I should say “ear witnesses” – have corroborated the Daily Mail’s account to me.

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‘Also these sources insist they did not brief the Mail, so that suggests there are three sources.’

Political advisers were reportedly left ‘shocked’ by the PM’s alleged remark, which he is said to have made after Michael Gove warned that soldiers would be needed to guard hospitals.

Defence secretary Ben Wallace hit back at the claims yesterday, saying the allegations were ‘not true’.

‘Look, it is not true, it has been categorically denied by practically everyone,’ he told Sky News.

‘We are getting into the sort of comedy chapter now of these gossip stories – unnamed sources, by unnamed advisers talking about unnamed events.

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‘None of this is serious. The prime minister has been utterly focused on delivering, alongside Cabinet colleagues, the response to Covid.’

This latest damaging claim emerged as Mr Cummings, the PM’s former chief aide, made a host of allegations about his old boss in a toxic war of words, involving Carrie Symonds.

Fears that Mr Cummings could reveal the alleged remark came ahead of a proposed hearing between him and MPs, at which he may testify against his former boss.

He has accused the PM of an ‘unethical, foolish, possibly illegal’ plan to get Conservative party donors to secretly fund a lavish refurbishment of his Downing Street flat.

Number 10 also denies this claim and on Sunday morning International Trade Secretary Liz Truss claimed Mr Johnson had met the cost himself – while avoiding a falling piece of equipment on live TV.

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