TORY grandee Michael Heseltine has labelled his party's historic victory in Copeland as a 'fluke'.
The peer made the comments as he launched a scathing attack on Theresa May's handling of Brexit which he said has left a huge number of Tories feeling "appalled and betrayed".
The Conservative former deputy prime minister dismissed comments by Boris Johnson that it would be fine for the UK to crash out of the EU without a deal as "rubbish".
And Lord Heseltine - who was last week sacked as a government adviser for rebelling over Brexit - insisted he will stay in his party "and fight".
He said Zac Goldsmith's defeat in the Richmond by-election last year is far more significant than the Conservative Party's "fluky" win in Copeland, where Labour suffered an historic defeat.
He said: "You should see my postbag. My postbag is from that very, very large minority - almost half - many of whom are bitterly disappointed with the Tory Party.
"You shouldn't be talking about a fluky by-election on the nuclear industry in the north of England, you should be talking about Richmond. See what happened there, where Europe was the central issue."
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