TORY MPs aiming to prop up Boris Johnson have been left embarrassed after they tried to claim that the exodus of aides from No 10 was part of the Prime Minister’s plan.

Johnson’s Downing Street operation lost four key players in a matter of hours on Thursday evening.

Following the resignation of Munira Mirza, ostensibly over the Prime Minister’s “parroting of fascists” trying to link paedophile Jimmy Savile to Labour leader Keir Starmer, Jack Doyle, Dan Rosenfield, and Martin Reynolds also walked out.

READ MORE: Boris Johnson's No 10 'collapsing' as key ally quits, Dominic Cummings says

On Friday morning he lost a fifth, as Elena Narozanski, a special adviser in the No 10 policy unit, handed in her notice.

However, the Tory government has been pushing another line.

HuffPost UK’s political editor Kevin Schofield reported a message sent to Tory MPs who support Johnson instructing them what to tweet.

The text, sent to a WhatsApp group of pro-Johnson MPs, read: “See Stewart’s tweet acknowledging the change promised on Monday is now underway. Please do retweet – or better still craft your own short tweet. Let’s show everyone that the PM means business.”

The reference was to a tweet put out by Stuart Anderson, the Tory MP for Wolverhampton South West. It read: “On Monday Boris Johnson promised MPs change. Tonight we see that change starting to happen and I welcome this quick action by the Prime Minster [sic].”

The message was then duly trotted out by a raft of other Johnson-supporting MPs, including by Joy Morrissey, Michael Fabricant, Peter Gibson, and Chris Clarkson.

Morrissey wrote: “The PM promised changes to the No10 operation earlier this week, glad to see him delivering tonight.”

Fabricant wrote: “The PM promised changes to the No10 operation at the 1922 on Monday, and it’s good to see action is now swiftly being taken.”

Gibson wrote: “Great to see the change that @BorisJohnson promised in @10DowningStreet being delivered.”

Clarkson wrote: “Earlier this week the PM promised the Parliamentary Party swift and decisive change at No 10 to get us back on course and focused on people's priorities - pleased to see true to his word he's delivering. Lots of work to do, time to crack on with the day job.”

The line was also parroted by former Ukip leader Henry Bolton, and was echoed by Energy Minister Greg Hands.

Doing the media round on Friday morning, Hands (below) said: ““Resignations have been made, resignations have been accepted.

“The Prime Minister was absolutely clear on Monday that there would be changes at the top of No 10 and that is what he has delivered.”

The National: Greg Hands

However, even Conservative MSP Craig Hoy said that the line being trotted out was an attempt to put “a positive spin on the situation”.

The line seems to have come from Telegraph writer Christopher Hope, who wrote on Twitter: “An alternative view is that today's resignations in 10 Downing St could be linked to the shake up of the whole operation unveiled by Boris Johnson on Monday, in response to the Sue Gray report.”

Around two hours after Hope’s tweet, Anderson’s was posted and the message instructing other pro-Johnson MPs to do the same was also sent.

The BBC’s Nick Robinson wrote: “When your Head of Policy quits in protest at what you’ve said and your Chancellor refuses to back your words and three key aides resign that means many things. One thing it really does not show is that ‘the PM means business’.”

However, ITV’s Robert Peston wrote: “In a nutshell, Johnson cleared out Reynolds, Doyle and Rosenfeld to try to prove he is still in charge of events, after Mirza said he was scurrilous and quit. But it is a risky gambit, to put it mildly. He has just evicted the entire top layer of Downing St.

“If this were a private sector business, the shareholders would probably see that as definitive proof he lacks any management ability, and he would be toast. But Downing St is not a private company and only some Tory MPs behave like shareholders or even stakeholders.”