Mr Varoufakis BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House that the “only solution” for Prime Minister Theresa May’s “abysmal” negotiating position would be a general election in Britain, which could result in the EU forcing the country into a Norway-style Brexit deal.

He added: “Mrs May is then allowed to go away in peace and to have a new government that negotiates a Norway-style agreement for Britain for a five-year period at least so that Mrs Merkel and Mr Macron can say ‘ok, well this is a problem for our successors’.”