Ashford MP Damian Green has gone on the attack over the Prime Minister's decision to effectively sack 21 MPs who rebelled on a key Brexit vote.

Mr Green said that it looked like the party wanted to purge those who did not agree with the direction it was going in.

Reaction as Boris expels 21 Tory MPs

The rebels include the Tunbridge Wells MP Greg Clark.

Mr Green questioned why one of the so-called rebels - David Gaulke - had the whip withdrawn.

He said “He has voted once against the government in 14 years; Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the House, has voted against the government 100 times. Why now and why on this vote?”

“It does look as though someone has decided that the modern progressive wing of the Conservative Party is not wanted on this voyage.

"That is wrong in principle but it is is very bad practical politics.”

Mr Green said rebels who had been suspended had not yet been given the chance to appeal even though there were mechanisms in place for them to do so.

"That is wrong in principle but it is is very bad practical politics...” Damain Green

“We haven't gone through the legal processes so there is all that to get through,” he said.

“The Conservative Party needs to represent all the Conservative traditions.”

In a letter to the Prime Minister on behalf of the One Nation Conservatives group, Mr Green said that the PM’s move had “hindered” any ambition to “unite the party and the country”.

And he said One Nation could only back him “if moderate, modernising Conservatives are still welcome in the parliamentary party”.

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