Jeremy Corbyn loyalist Rachael Cousins, who is better known to political Twitter users as @Rachael_Swindon did not speak highly of the eight Labour and three Conservative MPs who make up the new Independent Group in parliament.

The prolific pro-Labour tweeter wrote: "Nothing says #ChangePolitics quite like assembling a group of right-wing, pro-head chopping, pro-austerity, pro-war, pro-oppression, pro-privatisation, pro-benefit cuts, anti-democratic, homophobic, racist, establishment MPs.

"Don’t call them red Tories, they’re blue to the core."

Three Conservative MPs, former minister Anna Soubrey, and colleagues Heidi Allen and Anna Wollaston announced they were leaving the Conservative Party for the new group, citing the government's being "in the grip" of the 10 Democratic Unionist Party MPs and also of the pro-Brexit Conservatives of the European Research Group, which the MPs said, acted as a party within the party.

They criticised prime minister Theresa May for 'alienating the 48 per cent' of voters who wanted to remain in the EU and for making no attempt to build a consensus on Brexit.