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It was not a good night to be Tigger.

The party - founded to shake up British politics around Brexit after members defected from the Tories and Labour - did not win a single seat in the European election.

Now senior figures in Change UK are involved in a public row.

Anna Soubry, the party's Brexit spokeswoman, accused leader Heidi Allen of "bizarre" behaviour for suggesting their supporters engage in tactical voting.

Change UK secured just 4% of the vote after rushing to register as a party in time for the European contest.

Former Tory minister Ms Soubry said "over 600,000 people went and voted for us, a genuinely new party" which was an "extremely good" result, she claimed.

(Image: BBC)

But she criticised Ms Allen, telling BBC Radio 4's Today: "I think it is rather bizarre for an interim leader on the eve of a poll to tell people essentially not to vote for their party."

Mocking the idea, she said: "You do not stand candidates and then say to people 'we are going through a complete farce, please don't vote for them'.

"Let's engage now in big, grown-up politics."

Ms Allen has previously revealed she offered to quit as a result of the spat over whether to support Liberal Democrat candidates outside London and the South East, saying that "had it been left to me, I would have absolutely advised tactical voting".

Former Tory MP Ms Allen acknowledged that her party needed to learn from what went wrong in the European Parliament elections before the next general election.

(Image: Cambridge News)

She said Change UK should "work with other right-minded parties like us that are pushing for Remain".

"The country has to come first, it is not about the brand, we must come together," she said.

The Lib Dems secured second place in the European elections, campaigning on a similar pro-EU message to Change UK.