Chuka Umunna made a “serious mistake” when he left Change UK for the Liberal Democrats according to it’s new leader Anna Soubry.

Six Change MPs – Heidi Allen, Sarah Wollaston, Angela Smith, Luciana Berger, Gavin Shuker and Mr Umunna have already left the embattled party this month that was initially launched to such media fanfare.

But Ms Soubry said it was the MP for Streatham’s departure that would be most keenly felt at the time.

“I will always be more sad than you can imagine that Chuka is not with us. I think he’s a man of huge ability and talents, and I think he has made a very serious mistake.”

I said to him: ‘The movement’s out there, we just need to build a home for that movement, a political party.’

When he decided that he believed we should not stand candidates I was beyond even disappointed.

I believed in him, and believed he should be prime minister of our country. He was a major part of why I left the Conservative Party.”#

However yesterday it appears that the initial magnanimity shown by Ms Soubry has fallen away when she launched a devastating attack on Chuka and his cohorts questioning his motives and loyalty:

She does pose an interesting question here for Chuka and his colleagues who set up Change UK/ The Independent Group/ TIG when they promised that they would do their utmost to stop a Corbyn led Government.

Along with former Tory minister Ms Soubry, the remaining Change UK MPs are Chris Leslie, Joan Ryan, Mike Gapes and Ann Coffey. They were initially lavished with donations but roundly mocked for their extremely poor EU Election campaign that returned zero MEPs.

We are LIVE tonight on our News Channel from 21:00 so please be sure to join us for the discussion as we look back on last night’s Tory Leadership debate.