Naga Munchetty had to cut off Richard Holden as he tried to put a positive spin on another miserable night for the Conservatives.

The Tory chairman was sent out to face the media after his party suffered two more humiliating by-election defeats to Labour in Kingswood and Wellingborough.

Further adding to the Conservatives’ woes was the performance of Reform, who saw their support surge in both seats.

On BBC Breakfast, presenter Munchetty pointed to comments by Jacob Rees-Mogg, who said the right wing must “re-unite” to stop Labour.

As Holden tried to highlight what the government was doing to bring down inflation and cut taxes, Munchetty interrupted him to say: “The right of the party, and please tell me if I’m wrong …”

The Tory chairman then said: “Well, if you’d let me finish … we’ve started to see sustainable tax cuts, we can only do that when we’ve got inflation down. That’ll hopefully see interest rates come down, which is incredibly important for families with mortgages and businesses looking to invest in the country.

“When we go to the country with that, as people like Jacob would say …”

At that point, Munchetty told him: “OK, I’m going to interrupt you. I’m going to interrupt you Richard Holden.”

She said that right-wing Tories also want to see illegal immigration brought down.

“It’s not about inflation – these are issues that are dividing the party and haven’t been addressed,” she said.

But Holden told her: “We’re quite clear on the direction of travel we’re wanting to go in.

“I think it’s something Conservatives can all get behind – proper controls on immigration, all part of that long-term plan the prime minister is putting forward.”