Under the plan, if the rebels are not allowed back into the party, the Liberals and the Greens would not put up a candidate against MPs Rory Stewart, Sam Gyimah, Margot James and Dominic Grieve.

In return, if they were to beat the official Tory candidates and win election to the Commons, they would agree to take a ‚soft whip‘ from the Liberals, meaning they would vote with Ms Swinson‘s party on selected issues.