MICHAEL Heseltine has urged voters to “put country first” and vote Liberal Democrat or for an independent candidate in next month’s General Election.

In a dramatic development, the pro-EU peer, who served under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, made clear he could not support the current Conservative leadership because they would, with Brexit, make the country "poorer and less influential".

Appearing on a panel event alongside Dominic Grieve, Anne Milton and David Gauke - former Tory ministers expelled from the party who are all now independent candidates - Lord Heseltine was asked for his message to Conservative voters ahead of next month's poll.

He was quoted as saying: "I'm telling them to vote for what they believe in and what the Conservative Party has stood for all my life and probably all theirs and to put country first.

"What that means in practical terms is they either vote for defrocked Conservative candidates - of which we have three excellent examples here - or they vote for the Lib Dems," explained the 86-year-old peer.

"It is the great delusion, so effective,[to say] get Brexit done. The idea that you can do it in a month, around Christmas."

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Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the former Deputy Prime Minister argued that the over-arching issue at the election was the prosperity of this country, its global influence and its relationships with Britain’s neighbours in Europe.

"I cannot vote or support people who are going to make the country poorer and less influential; full stop, end of story," he declared.

Lord Heseltine also claimed Jeremy Corbyn was “not fit to be Prime Minister,” insisting: “He's not going to be Prime Minister and you know it, I know it and every pollster reveals it."

He added: "The question is not whether he can be Prime Minister, it's whether he continues to lead the Labour Party by Christmas because there will be a great move to get rid of him.

“Anyone who might form a temporary coalition will insist on it not being Jeremy Corbyn."

In response, Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office Minister, said he felt a "certain sense of sadness" about Lord Heseltine's views on the Conservative Party.

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"Michael, I think, advised people to vote Liberal Democrat in the European election, so in that sense he's consistent but I do think that he's wrong on this.

"The most important thing at this General Election is the choice between the two alternative prime ministers - Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn - and Boris would undoubtedly ensure that we got Brexit done and avoid the dangers of two referendums, whereas Jeremy Corbyn, as we know by the words of the Chief Rabbi today, poses a threat to more than just our economy."