Senior Tory Sir Desmond Swayne has been condemned as “completely out of order” by cabinet minister Michael Gove.

Gove has refused to call for action to be taken against his Tory party colleague for suggesting official data should not be trusted and encouraging fringe groups of lockdown-sceptics and anti-vaxxers.

Swayne, a former Conservative minister, made the spurious claim that official sources were manipulating data to exaggerate the danger during a call with a campaign group in November