At least a dozen Tory MPs have reportedly threatened to quit the party if the ex-Foreign Secretary ends up becoming leader.
Speculation that Boris is preparing a bid for Number 10 has reached fever pitch in the says since The Sun revealed he is divorcing wife Marina Wheeler.
He has been linked to young Tory campaigner Carrie Symonds after being thrown out of the marital home.
Yesterday he sparked a fresh row within the Tory party by accusing Mrs May of "wrapping a suicide vest" around Britain.
The comments provoked a massive backlash – but friends of Boris claimed the PM's aides are co-ordinating the campaign against him.
Brexiteers hit out as it emerged a dossier listing the ex-minister's history of gaffes and colourful personal life has been circulating around Westminster.
The document was first drawn up by Mrs May's team in 2016, during the last leadership election, but resurfaced last week.
Backbencher Nadine Dorries said: "This dossier was drawn up by the PM's staff. Who instructed them to do that?
"The PM is wholly responsible for the actions of her staff. Who stands to lose the most as Boris gains in popularity?
"I think the source of the leak must undoubtedly be No10."
Andrew Bridgen told The Times: "The rumours about Boris have been floating around Westminster for a long time.
"You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes and you have to ask why they have come out now and who benefits from them."
Scottish Tory Ross Thomson added: "This is gutter politics that only serves to deliver the disaster of a Corbyn Government."
Number 10 has denied orchestrating an anti-Boris campaign designed to scupper his leadership ambitions.
But Justice Secretary David Gauke, a Theresa May loyalist, hit out at the former Foreign Secretary, telling the BBC: "I'm probably not a natural Boris supporter."
At least 12 Conservative MPs say they will resign from the party if Boris does manage to become leader, according to the Daily Mail.
Senior pro-EU backbencher Sarah Wollaston yesterday broke cover, saying: "I don't think he's fit to lead the country. Would I stay? I very much doubt it."
Ex-minister Nicky Morgan said she would refuse to serve in a Cabinet led by Boris – but insisted she wouldn't quit the Tories altogether.
She blasted: "Boris has to make a decision. He is either a journalist or he is a politician."
Some Brexiteers have warned that Mr Johnson's antics could undermine their cause by disrupting the PM's plans to take Britain out of the EU.
Eurosceptic Labour MP John Mann said today: "Boris Johnson’s attempted power grab is rapidly becoming the most likely way in which Brexit will be derailed."
Just 24 hours after his "suicide vest" tirade, Boris today tried to change the subject with a newspaper article calling for lower taxes.
Tories will split if PM forces through Brexit plan, ex-minister warns
THERESA May will break up the Tories if she refuses to back down on her Brexit plan, ex-minister Steve Baker has warned.
The backbencher, who quit the Government in protest at the PM's Chequers proposal, said she risked opening up a "catastrophic split".
He called for the party to unite behind a looser free-trade deal, similar to the EU's agreement with Canada.
And he insisted that at least 80 Tory MPs will defy Mrs May and vote down her Chequers plans if they ever get tabled in the Commons.
Mr Baker, the former Brexit Minister, said: "When negotiating, the Prime Minister needs to demonstrate her intent and also her power to deliver.
"If we come out of conference with her hoping to get Chequers through on the back of Labour votes, I think the EU negotiators would probably understand that if that were done, the Tory party would suffer the catastrophic split which thus far we have managed to avoid."
He added: "I hope we will emerge from conference with the party united around the idea that we can either leave having accepted the EU offer or we have to leave with nothing agreed – but that the Chequers proposal is not acceptable as a lasting basis for our partnership.
"What we need out of conference is a new resolve that these are the choices before us."
Mr Baker was speaking to mark 200 days before we officially leave the EU in March 2009.
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