“I am so sorry at the loss of many excellent Tory councillors,” he told the Observer. “But frankly, given the performance of the government, it’s pretty amazing that anyone turned out to vote Conservative at all.”

A grassroots movement to force out the prime minister is gaining ground in the wake of a set of election results that saw the Tories lose an astonishing 1,300 councillors. MPs and local constituency chiefs also warned May that agreeing a Brexit deal with Labour would lead to the party’s annihilation.