Andrea Leadsom: Tory MPs are quitting in droves due to social media trolling and death threats – I’ve had people spitting at me outside Parliament

And Leadsom also took a swipe at a Cadbury's discount store for renaming Easter eggs as "gesture eggs", saying that it is "ridiculous" because the UK is "a Christian country", adding: "It's a great shame when people fiddle with things like Easter eggs."

So far 63 Conservative MPs have said they are quitting at the upcoming general election and this week Tory MP Mark Francois said he thought the total could be more than the 75 Tory MPs who quit at the 1997 election.

Speaking to Chopper's Political podcast, Leadsom - who ran to be Tory leader in 2016 and 2019 - said that while the party's dismal polling will be a factor, many of her colleagues were being hounded out by abuse from members of the public.

She said: "I'm not surprised people have had enough. Obviously, some of them are just fed up because they can see that their polling situation isn't good."

Leadsom, now a junior Health minister focused on improving life chances for the under-twos, said the numbers leaving were nothing like in 2010 when half of the party's MPs quit after the MPs' expenses scandal exposed by The Daily Telegraph.

Another reason for her colleagues quitting was "the pressures of the job, the hostility of social media, the death threats - people genuinely find it exhausting. I find it exhausting.

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"Even as a sunlit uplands person - as I am - I wake up some days and think, 'oh, really?' I've had death threats, I've had paper death threats with 'we know where you' live sort of thing. I've had people spitting at me outside Parliament. It's pretty revolting."

In the wide-ranging interview, Leadsom said that leaving the European Union in January 2020 was "the best thing we ever did".

She said: "I still hold it was the best thing we ever did. And I know a lot of people sort of want to rewrite history. And, of course, the reality is there is no counterfactual.

"So you don't have the ability to see the United Kingdom in the EU today versus the United Kingdom out of the EU today. So you can't sort of compare and contrast.

"But the things I would point to is, you know, our ranking in world soft power has gone up. Our ranking at the World Trade Organization has gone up."

The Tories can still win the general election, Leadsom said despite leading pollster Professor Sir John Curtice giving them a 1 per cent chance of victory this week.

She said: "What we are seeing is the economy is improving. Real wages are rising. People will start to feel better off. It's been a very, very tough time, with two black swan events, as they call it, in Covid and then the first war in Europe with an energy price crisis.

"So we need to give the Prime Minister time to let those green shoots of recovery come through, and then we'll see how people are feeling."

Leadsom, who described herself as a "committed Christian", took aim at a Cadbury's discount store - which is licensed by the US chocolate giant to sell its products - for renaming Easter eggs as "gesture eggs".

She said: "I think that's ridiculous. We are a Christian country. I hold those traditions as well as my faith very dear. And I think it's a great shame when people fiddle with things like Easter eggs or indeed the England shirt."

The BBC reported this week that the signs for "gesture eggs" appeared to have been replaced by those for "Easter eggs" after the controversy emerged.

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