Johnson told the Daily Mail: "We have got to cut the cost of government to reduce the cost of living."

He said the Civil Service had become ‘swollen’ during the pandemic.

He suggested the billions saved could be ploughed into tax cuts, saying: "Every pound the Government pre-empts from the taxpayer is money they can spend on their own priorities, on their own lives."

There were 384,000 civil servants employed in 2016 - the lowest number since World War Two - but as the UK prepared to leave the EU numbers steadily rose until they reached 475,000 at the end of last year, reports BBC.

Ministers have been given a month's time to come up with plans to cut the size of the Civil Service by 91,000 .