He told Sky News:

This tiny number of MPs that is generating all these headlines, I think my colleagues are going to get angrier and angrier with them if they carry on.

Lets just remind the Conservative party and my colleagues, the danger is if you carry on rocking the boat, you three or four or five people, you will finish up with Corbyn in Downing Street.

Yes, he smells power here because of the disarray that's followed this election.

The first flush of a few days after a general election is not the time to decide to jettison your leader, that would be very, very destructive.

In six or twelve months time, if we have another General Election, it will be the fault of those MPs in my party who are trying to capitalise on this situation to reverse the decision of last year's referendum.

Avidly pro-European, pro-EU colleagues who have never really accepted the referendum result.

People like Michael Heseltine, who are really ricking the boat, and George Osborne, they should shut up, they should remember that the big priority is to keep Jeremy Corbyn out of Downing Street- otherwise they will get exactly what the say they don't want.