As demands to kick the 11 Remain MPs out of the party grew, the group vowed to carry on trying to frustrate the will of the people. 

Some, including Anna Soubry and Antoinette Sandbach, were seen discussing their “victory” over glasses of white wine in Parliament. 

Fellow Tory Nadine Dorries called for all of them to be sacked – and was backed by an overwhelming majority of Daily Express readers. 

In a telephone and text poll, 2,192 wanted the rebels sacked and just 38 believed they should escape punishment – a majority of 98.3 per cent. 

Ms Dorries said the rebels’ true colours emerged as they rejected concessions offered by the Government to pass an amendment calling for a “meaningful vote” in Parliament on the final Brexit deal and were “high as kites on the vapour of their own self-importance”. 

Tory MP Peter Bone said: “You really have to ask which bit of democracy these people don’t understand. There is an issue of sour grapes here because many of them are former ministers who have lost their jobs, but actually people need to realise that what they were trying to do is stop Brexit. 

“This is not a normal decision for MPs because we delegated the decision to the British people in a referendum and most people just want us to get on with it.” 

Fellow Tory MP David Davies said: “These arrogant people just think that the views of ordinary, decent people who read papers like the Daily Express shouldn’t be listened to and they should ignore the referendum result. 

“I am sure voters will take notice of what they have done and the contempt they have for democracy.” 

Labour peer Lord Adonis, who is still a Government adviser, revealed that the rebellion was the first step in trying to reverse Brexit. 

Veteran Labour MP Kate Hoey, who backs Brexit and voted with the Government, said: “This comment by Lord Adonis shows what many of those voting last night really want – stopping the UK leaving the EU by any means.” 

Led by former minister Dominic Grieve, the other rebels were Heidi Allen, Ken Clarke, Jonathan Djanogly, Stephen Hammond, Oliver Heald, Nicky Morgan, Robert Neill, and Sarah Wollaston. 

Theresa May could sack them by removing the whip, effectively booting them out of the party. 

They would be allowed to continue as independent MPs until the next general election, but would be forbidden from standing again as Conservative candidates. 

In 1992 John Major withdrew the whip from Eurosceptic Tory MPs who rebelled against the Maastrich Treaty. 

However, they were reinstated by the time the 1997 election took place. 

The anger over the rebels’ actions was heightened when the European Parliament’s Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt, who wants to punish Britain for voting to Leave, declared the Government defeat was “a good day for democracy”. 

Mr Grieve and his fellow Remainers have already threatened another backbench revolt as they seek ways to use parliamentary procedure to overturn the referendum vote. 

He said: “I hope very much it won’t be necessary because I have no desire to defeat the Government or be involved in the Government’s defeat a second time.” 

He added: “I’m sorry if colleagues think ill of me but it’s not going to affect what I do one jot.”