The MP for Romsey and Southampton North said she found out she was sacked from her ministerial role on Twitter when Boris Johnson became Prime Minister in 2019.

Having won the last general election, Mr Johnson oversaw a cabinet reshuffle which saw Caroline Nokes return to the backbenches after serving as Immigration Minister.

However, rather than being informed by the Prime Minister himself, the Conservative MP learned the news of her dismissal via The Daily Mail’s deputy political editor, John Stevens, who tweeted: “Caroline Nokes sacked” to which the MP responded: “Good of you to tell me first.”

Four years later, speaking on The News Agents podcast, Mrs Nokes confirmed that's indeed how she found out.

In an interview shared on Twitter yesterday, broadcast journalist Lewis Goodall asked the MP: “Is it true you found out about leaving the government on Twitter?”

Mrs Nokes responded: “Absolutely true, no ifs or buts about it.

“I can’t even remember who it was that tweeted it. I think it was Steve Swinford (Political Editor, The Times), someone like that, tweeted ‘and leaving government, Caroline Nokes’ and I went ‘oh, thank for letting me know.’”

She added: “It would be unfair to say I hadn’t heard anything. I knew that I had a five-minute appointment scheduled for the Prime Minister.

“Now look, your five-minute appointment is not a promotion, is it. But certainly, they had the ill manners to let journalists know before they’d had the courtesy to tell me to my face.

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Reflecting on her time in Parliament while Mr Johnson was in charge, Mrs Nokes added: “It was a very difficult period for me, he (Boris Johnson) took the whip off me. That was quite difficult. He sacked me by Twitter, that was quite difficult.

“It was also quite difficult to see what I thought would be extremely damaging – a no deal Brexit – potentially being steamrollered through the House, through the use of an illegal prorogation of parliament… that I found very difficult.”

Mrs Nokes was one of the first MPs to submit a letter of no confidence in Mr Johnson, having previously called him a "liability".

Asked by Goodall whether she thought Boris Johnson was a liar, the Lyndhurst-born MP responded: “I think I’ve probably said so in the past, absolutely. I don’t think that the truth mattered to him.

“I think what mattered to Boris Johnson was getting his agenda through, regardless.”