FOREIGN Secretary Philip Hammond was forced yesterday to play down claims that Iain Duncan Smith is on the brink of resignation in a bitter row over spending cuts.

The Work and Pensions Secretary is reportedly involved in a bruising battle with Chancellor George Osborne over plans to take £2 billion from the welfare budget to imitate the effect of Mr Osborne’s cuts to tax credits following his defeat on the issue in the Lords.

Sources close to Mr Duncan Smith have briefed newspapers that he is ready to walk out of the government if he is forced to compromise on his universal credit reforms in the spending review later this month.

Asked on BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show if he was expecting Mr Duncan Smith to resign, Mr Hammond replied: “I don’t think so.”