George Osborne and David Cameron would "sell their mothers to stay in Downing Street", an explosive new book has claimed.
The Tory pals were said to be "petrified" of Boris Johnson stealing their jobs in the memoirs of former Coalition minister David Laws.
The claim has since come true - after the Prime Minister's mum lost her job thanks to his cuts.
Mary Cameron, who signed a petition against children's centre closures, had her volunteering role axed at a centre near her home in West Berkshire.
The comment was made to Mr Laws by former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in 2012.
Mr Laws' memoirs quoted him as saying: "They would sell their mothers to stay in Downing Street.
"They are petrified of Boris Johnson coming along and challenging them for the leadership."
The book , serialised in The Mail on Sunday, also claimed the PM admitted the EU referendum was a "party management issue" to keep right-wing backbenchers happy.
Michael Gove's advisor was said to have accused Downing Street of being "complete muppets" who "f*** everything up".
Posh Old Etonian Oliver Letwin revealed he did not know what porridge was as a schoolboy - and poured it over his eggs and bacon because he thought it was an "upmarket brown sauce".
George Osborne was accused of admitting his plan to abolish a tax on savings would "only really be of help to stupid, affluent and lazy people, who can't be bothered to put their saving away into tax-efficient vehicles".
And the Queen even cracked a joke about her own death, Nick Clegg revealed - despite his outcry earlier this week over her private conversations being made public.
Asked if she opposed Royal succession rules, the monarch is said to have replied: "Good grief, by then I'll be dead!"
Environment Secretary Owen Paterson faced the most dramatic claims - that he wanted pensioners to pick fruit for less than the minimum wage in a desperate bid to cut immigration.
He believed Britons could be plucked out of retirement and put to work in fields rather than young eastern Europeans, according to the account.
He unveiled the barmy plan to stunned colleagues as fears were rising of a huge influx of Romanians and Bulgarians.
Mr Paterson branded the story “completely wrong”.
He told Sky News: “There is a very good scheme called the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme which is wrongly described for a start in the Laws piece, which brought in a very targeted number - 20,250 - Romanians and Bulgarians, before they were opened up to unlimited access and it worked really well.
“They came to targeted spots, proper accommodation, good catering but they went back at the end of the season and I was very keen to keep it on.
“We looked at all sorts of options of how we could substitute them once there was open season from the 1st January 2014, right, so the story was wrong.
“There might be other stories that are wrong in that long, long piece.”
The Chancellor tried to distance himself today from Mr Laws' memoirs - but did not deny them entirely, and even agreed Mr Johnson was hungry for power.
He told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show "I don't really recognise much of what was said. I don't think it's the greatest revelation in human history to discover that Boris Johnson is interested in a job in government.'