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“Like hard and soft Brexit, I’m not sure what Ruth means by that.

“She did a great job in Scotland but every Conservative Scottish, English and Welsh MP was elected on our manifesto, so obviously we deliver the plans in that manifesto as best we can – including, and especially, on Brexit.”

Brexit talks are due to begin in a week’s time.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon played down the prospect of a major rethink on Brexit, but said there would be a renewed emphasis on the needs of business.

“We want to work with business on this. It is very, very important that we are careful about the existing trade we do with Europe.” The Conservative Party will “open the door” to Jeremy Corbyn becoming Prime Minister unless it “lances the boil” of Brexit, Tory grandee Lord Heseltine has warned.

The peer, who served in Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet, suggested Theresa May’s time as leader of the Conservatives was limited and called on his party to rethink its approach to Brexit.

And he suggested that a new Prime Minister could strike a deal with Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron to limit migration within the EU, potentially stopping Brexit altogether.