Published: 2:02 PM November 5, 2018 Updated: 6:06 PM September 17, 2020

Leading Brexiteers are urging their colleagues to put their phones in the microwave to protect them from eavesdropping by spies.

A senior member of the European Research Group (ERG) of hardline Tory MPs has been urging his colleagues to buy microwaves for their parliamentary offices to stop Remainers and foreign spooks snooping on their talks, it has been reported.

The Sunday Times said that Brexiteer MPs were being advised to place their mobile phones inside the microwaves during sensitive meetings to stop hi-tech surveillance.

It is unclear whether Jacob Rees-Mogg knows what a microwave is.

One Conservative MP, advised to buy a microwave for her office, told paper: 'Those MPs who have served in government know that it's possible for British and foreign spies to eavesdrop on conversations when a mobile phone is turned on, so the Brexiteers are now being advised to take the precautionary step of installing a microwave in their offices to stop anyone listening into their calls.'

It added that ERG members were holding important meetings face to face and committing as little as possible to email.

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Another MP was reported to have recently ended a call with a journalist when he heard 'ambient noise changes' on the line, which he believed to be electronic surveillance rather than Parliament's notoriously ropey mobile reception.

Former Brexit secretary David Davis apparently used to keep his phone and iPad in a 'Faraday pouch', lined with layers of metal material and designed to prevent hacking while travelling, and at home secured them in a biscuit tin.