'No room for pro-Europeans in Tory party': Would-be MPs need to show show 'real Brexit enthusiasm' to stand a chance of getting selected, says Amber Rudd 

• Former Home Secretary Amber Rudd claims she was forced out of the Tory Party
• She said new Conservative candidates had to show 'real Brexit enthusiasm' 
• As a result she said there is no place for pro-European Conservatives in the party 
• She expressed horror at the idea of a proposed 'freedom of speech champion'  

The Tory party is no longer a place for pro-Europeans, says former home secretary Amber Rudd.

The Remain supporter said that those hoping to be selected as a candidate for MP had to show ‘real Brexit enthusiasm’.

She resigned the Conservative whip after Boris Johnson sacked 21 of her colleagues who tried to stop a no-deal Brexit. She did not stand again as an MP in 2019.

She said on ITV yesterday: ‘The Conservative Party used to be a place where you could have pro and anti-Europeans, not always in harmony, but it was a home for both. Now there is no place for pro-European Conservatives.

‘That’s a loss because I think there’s a legitimate Conservative position which is pro-European, not trying to get back into the EU, but fundamentally pro-European. Those people are not going to be part of the MP selection process in the future.’

Miss Rudd also argued that there should be an all-women Cabinet, adding: ‘I think I’d fire all the men. It’s about time that we addressed the balance. It feels to me that there’s still very much a boys club and women get overlooked.’

She highlighted that the current percentage of women to men was just 25per cent.

She added: ‘I’d set a completely new precedent by having an all-female cabinet.’

Looking back to the time in coalition with the Liberal Democrats, she said it was a ‘very great, very successful’ way of operating a government.

She added: So we’d have the first, all-female cabinet under a female prime minister.’

Urging the Government to scrap policies to protect freedom of speech, she said she had a ‘slight horror’ at the idea of a free speech champion.

‘I don’t see the need for it. I think that universities make wise and unwise choices and the market can see that and students will respond. I don’t feel there’s actually a need,’ she said.