The foreign secretary has warned 21 Tory MPs who were stripped of the whip for rebelling over Brexit that history will never forgive them if they put Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street.

Dominic Raab said that keeping Mr Corbyn out of No 10 was “bigger than Brexit” as he warned against an interim government led by the Labour leader.

He told the Conservative Party conference: “I say this as a passionate Brexiteer, there are some things even bigger than Brexit, and keeping that lot out of Downing Street is one of them.

“So, to any of our colleagues — or former colleagues — tempted to put Jeremy Corbyn and his momentum mob into No 10 as part of some ‘temporary’ anti-Brexit coalition . . .