Theresa May slapped down Boris Johnson over his Brexit outburst today - but made clear he will not be sacked.
The Prime Minister said 'Boris is Boris' as she insisted she - not the Foreign Secretary - is in charge of negotiations with the EU.
Mr Johnson is facing a fresh backlash after his article that threw Cabinet divisions into the spotlight once again.
Defence minister Tobias Ellwood was among those criticising Mr Johnson, while he has also only received limited support from fellow Brexiteers.
Michael Gove cautioned against 're-fighting the referendum' - but also suggested a reference by Mr Johnson to claims about £350million weekly contributions to the EU had been misinterpreted.
They are expected to have showdown face-to-face talks in New York later, where they are both attending the UN general assembly.
Mr Johnson's intervention has been widely seen as an effort to force a harder Brexit.
Asked about the row as she travelled to Canada en route to New York today, Mrs May said: 'Look, Boris is Boris.
Mrs May also refused to say that money saved in contributions to the EU can be redirected to the NHS.
'By definition if we're currently paying money into the eu and at the point in the future we won't be paying that money into the EU of course we will have to decide how to spend that money,' she said.
'At that time as a government we will look to see how it is appropriate and best to spend that money that will be a decision taken at the time.'
Mr Johnson will seek assurances that Mrs May will not sign up to a deal that will hand tens of billions of pounds to the EU after Brexit.
Some senior Tories believe he could even storm out of the Government over the dispute.
Downing Street is also angry that it was told about the article only shortly before it was published on Friday evening, when Mrs May was being briefed by security chiefs on the Parsons Green attack.
Posting on Twitter, Mr Ellwood wrote: 'PARTY DISCORD: Think many would agree: We are not witnessing our finest hour-at a testing time when poise, purpose and unity are called for.'
The chair of the PM's policy board, Tory MP George Freeman, also took a swipe at Mr Johnson for making 'wild promises'.
'Personally I think the £350million figure is just far too early to be able to make wild promises about what exactly is going to be coming out of the Brexit negotiations,' he told BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour.
Meanwhile, No 10 today announced that Britain's top Brexit civil servant, Oliver Robbins, will take up a new role working directly for Mrs May.
Mr Robbins will step down as permanent secretary to the department and take up a new post coordinating Brexit talks for the PM.
The move has been seen as a bid by the Mrs May to strengthen her own grip on the talks.
It comes after reports Mr Robbins repeatedly clashed with the Brexit Secretary David Davis over the summer.
Mr Johnson appeared increasingly isolated in the Cabinet today as friends of fellow Leave supporters Michael Gove and Priti Patel denied reports that they backed his intervention.
The Prime Minister, who is due to visit Canada this afternoon before heading on to New York, yesterday sanctioned her closest Cabinet allies to issue a public rebuke to Mr Johnson but backed away from calls to sack him for speaking out.
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