Boris Johnson claimed the Queen was 'bright and focussed' in their meeting just two days before her death at Balmoral.

Johnson travelled to Scotland on September 6 to tender his resignation, holding a 40-minute meeting with the Queen, who then invited Liz Truss to succeed him at Downing Street.

The MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip - who resigned after a series of scandals - admitted it was clear the Queen was not well during their meeting.

“One of the reasons it was so shocking on the eighth to hear about her death was because in that audience she had been absolutely on it, just two days before her death," he told the BBC.

“She was actively focused on geopolitics, on UK politics, quoting statesmen from the 50s, it was quite extraordinary.

“She seemed very bright, very focused. Look, she was clearly not well, I think that was the thing I found so moving when we all heard about her death two days later.

“I just thought how incredible that her sense of duty had kept her going in the way that it had, given how ill she obviously was, how amazing that she should be so bright and so focussed. So it was a pretty emotional time.”