The nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is facing a revolt from its backbench MPs after it attempted to whip them into compulsory attendance at parliamentary debates.

Stung by television pictures of empty party benches, the AfD has introduced a new system that requires MPs to seek permission if they want to be absent from parliamentary sessions.

But backbench MPs have accused the party leadership of treating them like children and creating unnecessary bureaucracy in angry emails leaked to Bild newspaper.

The row centres on the German parliament’s long and notoriously dull general debates. Much of the real work is done in committees and so long as they do not miss votes, MPs have traditionally been allowed to skip listening to each other’s speeches.

The AfD made great show of castigating established parties for the practice and vowed to be different when it became the first nationalist party to sit in the Bundestag since the sixties in 2017.