DAVID Davis has urged his Tory colleagues away from the “self-indulgent nonsense” of a leadership election, warning that it would be "catastrophic" for Britain’s Brexit negotiations.

The Brexit secretary, who is tipped as one of the front runners to succeed Theresa May as Prime Minister, said the country needed a stable backdrop for its attempts to cut a Brexit deal with Brussels.

Asked if a leadership contest would be catastrophic for those negotiations, Mr Davis told the BBC's Andrew Marr show: "Yes. Yes. Let me be absolutely plain about this. Number one, we have got a very good prime minister. I know she is coming under a lot of pressure at the moment but I have seen her in action. She is very good. She makes good decisions. She's bold. She takes her time.

"Point number two is, I want a stable backdrop to this Brexit negotiation."

Mr Davis said his message to Tory MPs seeking a leadership battle was: "Don't be so self-indulgent. Get on with the day job. The more self-indulgent nonsense you go in for, the more difficult you make it to do our proper job."

Asked about reports that a Tory MP told him he should be PM at a party meeting, Mr Davis said: "And I said afterwards our job is to support the Prime Minister and make Brexit work, not anything else."

The Yorkshire MP made his remarks after weekend reports suggested he was in league with Philip Hammond to make the Chancellor a caretaker premier to see Brexit through, after which he would stand aside to allow someone else to take the party into the next General Election.

Mr Davis said he took some blame for urging Mrs May to call the snap election but he had not apologised to her for it.

"I take my share of the blame for it along with the other 20 members of the Cabinet who also said it was a good idea. No, I didn't apologise to her. I didn't design the campaign."

Asked about the campaign, the Brexit secretary said: "It didn't work, did it?"

Mr Davis said there was "no essay crisis" in the Government, which appeared to be a reference to criticism levelled at David Cameron that he left decisions until the last minute when he was PM.

Speaking on ITV’s Peston on Sunday, Lord Patten, the former Tory chairman, warned that if Mrs May was forced out, there would be “chaos in the Conservative Party and there’s probably chaos in Parliament”.

Meanwhile, William Hague, the former leader, has made clear he had "no plans" to return to government following reports that Mrs May wanted him to join her inner circle of advisers.

Lord Hague, who was foreign secretary in the Coalition Government, stepped down as an MP two years ago, said there was "no truth" in the suggestions that he had been approached by No 10.

It was claimed the PM had wanted to harness Lord Hague's experience "to avoid a repeat of the foul-ups that led to the election disaster" and that the pair had agreed to meet to discuss a new advisory and supportive role.

One headline read: "May: I need a Willie", drawing similarities between its suggestion and former home secretary William Whitelaw's loyalty to Margaret Thatcher, who once famously said: "Every prime minister needs a Willie."

But Lord Hague dismissed the reports, tweeting: "No truth in today's reports that I have been approached by No 10 to return to government and no plans to do so."