Boris Johnson has refused to entirely rule out increasing taxes again - saying he wouldn't do it "if I can possibly avoid it".
He said he opposed "unnecessary tax rises" despite his manifesto-busting hike to national insurance to ease NHS backlogs and fund social care.
The Prime Minister stoked Tory anger last month when he abandoned his manifesto commitment not to raise taxes with an increase to national insurance contributions.
As Conservative activists descended on Manchester for the party's annual conference, Mr Johnson claimed Margaret Thatcher would have supported his approach.
He said it was "total nonsense" that he was more like Harold Wilson than Mrs Thatcher - and said neither had been forced to deal with a pandemic.
"We have had to look after the British people with £407 billion of protection for their jobs, for people's livelihoods," he told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.
"It was most beneficial to the poorest and the neediest in society."
Asked to rule out further tax hikes, Mr Johnson said: "You have no fiercer and more zealous opponent of unnecessary tax rises than me, but we have had to deal with a pandemic on a scale which this country has not seen before in our lifetimes and long before.
"We don't want to raise taxes, of course we don't, but what we will not do is be irresponsible with public finances."
Asked again, he said: "If I can possibly avoid it, I do not want to raise taxes again, of course not, nor does [Chancellor] Rishi Sunak.
"Margaret Thatcher would not have borrowed more money now, I'll tell you that much for free."
His comments came after top Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg warned that taxes could not rise any further.
Speaking to The Telegraph’s Chopper podcast, he said: “We are as highly taxed in this country as we have been pretty much since the war, certainly since Harold Wilson was prime minister.
“The idea that there is all this extra tax to be plucked out is simply false. If we are to have a strong and growing economy, we are taxed as highly as the country can afford.”
The PM and Chancellor Rishi Sunak have reportedly brokered a secret deal to cut taxes before the next election.
Mr Johnson agreed that any new cash in the upcoming Spending Review would have to be balanced by cuts or fresh tax rises rather than more borrowing, according to the Sunday Times.
Insiders told the paper Mr Johnson has been convinced to curb spending so he can cut taxes before the next election.
A Government figure said: “Boris has accepted that if he wants further spending it will have to be properly funded.
"He has seen that there is a potential political benefit to keeping a lid on things now.
"Both Boris and Rishi want an election war chest. They both want to show voters that Conservatives are a tax-cutting party."
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