Left-leaning comedians should keep their politics to themselves, according to Jack Dee, rather than poking fun at the Tories or criticising Brexit.

Dee said he was reminded of the 1980s, when everyone on the alternative comedy scene tore into Baroness Thatcher.

Only a tiny minority of comics, then and now, class themselves as Right-wing. It means everyone is making the same jokes and there is a political imbalance in British comedy, Dee said.

Speaking about the new generation of comics, Dee said: “It seems to be an imperative that you show your colours and stand up for your side, which is usually the Left.

“Instinctively, I want comedians to be independent of all that. I don’t want them to be hailing a new type of government. I’ve always thought it was my job to question all of it.”

Recalling his early days at the Comedy Store, the influential Eighties comedy club, Dee told Radio Times: “You only needed to mention Margaret Thatcher and you’d get a round of applause.

“I figured there was just no point in doing stuff about this. There would be three other people doing the same thing as you. And topical comedy becomes a bit like doing crosswords. The gags that you all arrive at are going to be pretty much the same because the subjects are the same.”