Ugo Monye, Mathew Tait and Louis Deacon have also been demoted while several new faces have made the step-up.

Scrum-half Ben Youngs has been rewarded for a fantastic year and he is joined by Chris Ashton, David Strettle, Mike Tindall and Dominic Waldouck.

In the pack uncapped Gloucester lock David Attwood, George Chuter, Dan Cole, Paul Doran-Jones, Hendre Fourie and Tom Palmer are all promoted to the 32-man squad.

Johnson said: “This was undoubtedly the most difficult EPS selection we’ve had to make in my time in the job.

“I think we’ve picked the best players and the fact that some experienced guys have missed out goes to show the depth we’ve now got.

“Leaving Steve Borthwick out was a very hard decision. He’s done a fantastic job for England over the last couple of years and it’s the most difficult call we’ve had to make. It is very tough on Steve but it goes to show the depth of talent we've got in that area.”

In the Saxons forwards Jon Golding, Luke Narraway, Tom Wood and Geoff Parling have been called up alongside Anthony Allen, Charlie Hodgson and James Simpson-Daniel.

England elite player squad:
Forwards: T Payne (Wasps), A Sheridan (Sale), D Cole (Leicester), P Doran-Jones (Gloucester), D Wilson (Bath); G Chuter (Leicester), D Hartley (Northampton), S Thompson (Leeds); D Attwood (Gloucester), C Lawes (Northampton), T Palmer (Stade Francais), S Shaw (Wasps); T Croft (Leicester), N Easter (Harlequins), H Fourie (Leeds), J Haskell (Stade Francais), L Moody (Leicester), J Worsley (Wasps).

Backs: D Armitage (London Irish), B Foden (Northampton); C Ashton (Northampton), M Banahan (Bath), M Cueto (Sale), D Strettle (Harlequins); R Flutey (Brive), S Hape (Bath), M Tindall (Gloucester), D Waldouck (Wasps); T Flood (Leicester), J Wilkinson (Toulon); D Care (Harlequins), B Youngs (Leicester).

England Saxons squad:
Forwards: D Bell (Bath), A Corbisiero (London Irish), J Golding (Newcastle), M Mullan (Worcester); L Mears (Bath), R Webber (Wasps); S Borthwick (Saracens), L Deacon (Leicester), G Parling (Leicester); S Armitage (London Irish), J Crane (Leicester), P Dowson (Northampton), L Narraway (Gloucester), T Rees (Wasps), C Robshaw (Harlequins), A Saull (Saracens), D Ward-Smith (Wasps), T Wood (Worcester).

Backs: N Abendanon (Bath), A Goode (Saracens); U Monye (Harlequins), J Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester), A Allen (Leicester), B Barritt (Saracens), D Hipkiss (Leicester), M Tait (Sale); S Geraghty (Northampton), C Hodgson (Sale), S Myler (Northampton); P Hodgson (London Irish), J Simpson (Wasps), R Wigglesworth (Sale).