Brexiteers who accused the Government and MPs of "selling out" over the EU divorce bill have been branded “swivel-eyed” by a senior minister who claimed they are mostly “elderly retired men” without mortgages or young children.

The Telegraph has obtained a WhatsApp mobile phone message sent by Claire Perry, the energy minister who attends Cabinet, in which she berates those accusing MPs of being "traitors" using pejorative language.

It reveals the increasing acrimony over Brexit at the most senior levels of the Conservative Party, amid growing calls for Theresa May to intervene and show more leadership.

The exchanges, in a private group for Tory MPs, were made last month as Theresa May agreed to pay the EU £39bn in a highly controversial move which senior Brexiteers fear may have damaged Britain's negotiating hand.

Ben Bradley, a Tory MP who was recently promoted to vice-chairman of the Conservative Party, says he is "getting some s*** from the usual suspects about sell-outs and traitors".

Ms Perry, who previously acted as an adviser to David Cameron, replied: "The 'sell out traitor mob' should be ignored. Listening to them means wrecking the economy in the short term and via a Corbyn Government delivering a long steady slow decline for the country we love.