Cool the Brexit rhetoric, says Shropshire MP Owen Paterson

Mr Paterson said some of the hyperbole had been getting out of hand since last week's announcement that Parliament would be suspended ahead of a new Queen's speech next month.

He cited a Twitter message from the novelist Philip Pullman – which he has since deleted – where the author suggested he would like see Boris Johnson hanged from a lamp post.

"It's all going way overboard," he said. "Now we've had people lost their sense of reality, we've had Philip Pullman saying Boris should be hanged from a tree, there's talk about fascism and authoritarianism.

"People need to get a sense of proportion. We were in a customs union which accounted for eight per cent of GDP, people got fed up when it became more than a customs union, and we voted to leave."

Mr Paterson's comments followed reports that Conservative whips had contacted potential Tory rebels warning them that they would be deselected if they supported legislation which would prevent the UK leaving without a deal,

Mr Paterson said he backed the stance, saying it was crucial for party discipline.

'Right to govern'

He said: "It is important to draw a distinction, this is not about taking a stand against a particular policy.

"It's taking away the elected Government's right to govern, and handing power to a committee with no known policies, who can't be held to account because they don't represent a single party."

Mr Paterson admitted he did not know how key votes expected to take place this week would go.

He said a general election was looking more likely, although he did not know when that would happen.

Mr Paterson said Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour MPs all voted to hold the 2016 referendum, and both the Conservatives and Labour manifestos pledged to honour the result of the poll.

"The Tory manifesto even committed to leaving the customs union and the single market," he added.

Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski has called for an early general election to break the deadlock.

He said a small cabal of Tory MPs were taking advantage of parliamentary arithmetic to frustrate the will of the people.