The Brexit Party has overtaken the Conservatives in national polling for the first time, with Nigel Farage predicted to win 49 seats in a general election, a bombshell poll reveals.

A ComRes survey found that if a general election campaign led by Theresa May took place now, it would put the Tories on course for their worst result in history – apparently confirming the fears of Conservative MPs and activists in uproar over the Prime Minister’s handling of Brexit.

Labour would become the largest party by a margin of 137 seats, allowing Jeremy Corbyn to lead a minority government as the Tories fell to third place in terms of vote share.

Brandon Lewis, the party chairman, Penny Mordaunt, the Defence Secretary, and Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, would be among 46 Tories to lose their seats to the Brexit Party, just one month after its launch, according to predictions based on the poll commissioned by Brexit Express.

Boris Johnson, Iain Duncan Smith and Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 committee, would be ousted by Labour, with the Tories retaining support from less than half of those who voted for them in 2017.