Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said the matter was a decision for Mr Cameron and not for him - but his leader would at some point put in place the "best team" to take the fight to Labour.

He stressed there would be no change of direction and the Tories would continue to be in the "mainstream" of British politics.

Mr Osborne was speaking following claims from Children, Schools and Families Secretary Ed Balls that Mr Cameron could be deposed by his party.

The Sunday Telegraph reported Mr Balls as saying: "At the next election, whenever it comes, we cannot guarantee that David Cameron will be leading the party. We must be prepared to take on William Hague or David Davis and fight a Tory party of the phoney centre, the right or even the hard right."

Mr Osborne told the BBC's Sunday AM programme: "We are not changing our strategy. Our strategy is to be in the mainstream of British politics - talking about the issues, like the NHS, like social breakdown, like pensions - that matter to people.

"It is that strategy which has made us real players in the political game, that delivered those great local election results last month, there is absolutely no change of strategy."

Asked if the Tories would depose Mr Cameron he said: "There is absolutely no prospect of that."

Pressed on the the prospect of the Tory leader changing his senior team this week, Mr Osborne said: "That is above my pay grade. That is David Cameron's decision and he will, at some point, put in place the best team to take forward the Conservative approach.

Mr Osborne said the Tories were ready for a general election whenever one was called: "We would be ready for an election in three weeks time and we are ready for an election in three years time."