The growing gulf between rich and poor is inevitable because millions of people are too stupid to get on in life, top Tory Boris Johnson suggested tonight.

Mr Johnson said that the resentment felt towards the super rich in the wake of the financial crisis and “fives years of recession” was irrational.

“It would be wrong to persecute the rich, and madness to try and stifle wealth creation and futile to try to stamp out inequality,” he said.

The Mayor of London, who dreams of being Prime Minister, said that the Government had a duty to care for those who could not look after themselves and give everyone else the chance to get on.

But he also said: “It is surely relevant to a conversation about equality that as many as 16% of our species have an IQ below 85, while about 2% have an IQ above 130.

“The harder you shake the pack, the easier it will be for some cornflakes to get to the top.”

Mr Johnson’s provocative remarks came in a speech honouring late Tory PM Margaret Thatcher at the Centre for Policy Studies in London.

It echoed Education Secretary Michael Gove’s advisor Dominic Cummings who recently claimed that youngsters’ performance at school is determined by genetics.

It was followed Sir John Major’s attack on the way that a private school elite controls Britain.

Mr Johnson claimed he backed Sir John’s call for great social mobility.

And he was quick to point out that he went to the same state primary school as Labour chief Ed Miliband as well as attending exclusive Eton alongside David Cameron.

But a Labour source said: “The Tories are writing off the chances of millions of people.

“This shows how out of touch the Conservatives if they think it is acceptable to write off the life chances of millions of their fellow citizens.”