Penrith and the Border MP Rory Stewart has spoken of the abuse he has faced following his high-profile contributions to the Brexit debate - including a threat to knock out his teeth.

Just hours after he appeared on the BBC Question Time show, a Twitter user posted a tweet in which he said: "I'd love to do Rory Stewart's dentist a favour and knock his **** front teeth out." The MP later confirmed that it has been one of several worrying threats he has received.

The politician told the News & Star: "I've had threatening messages left on my answerphone; we've had people saying that I should be hanged as a traitor; or saying I should be put up against a wall when the revolution comes; and people saying that I should have my teeth knocked out.

"Somebody said I should be raped in a prison - and that kind of thing.

"These generally seem to be slightly unfortunate individuals with too much time on their hands.

"What's more disturbing is the threats which are being made against female MPs. Some of them now really do feel that they don't want to continue in politics and they wouldn't encourage other people to.

"There is a very serious edge to this: the MP Jo Cox was actually killed."

Mrs Cox, who was a Labour MP for Batley and Spen, was shot and stabbed in a vicious attack carried out on a busy Yorkshire street during the 2016 referendum campaign. Her killer was Thomas Mair, an extreme right-wing activist, is now serving a life sentence for murder.

Mr Stewart - who has been among the most outspoken supporters of Theresa May's Draft Withdrawal Deal that was roundly rejected by Parliament - said it was now necessary to heal the wounds of Brexit and bring the country together - and he believes passionately that a second referendum will work against that aim by destroying trust in politics.

"Every one of my colleagues promised to respect the result of the referendum," he said.

"A second referendum is a bad idea; it would quite understandably enrage people - particularly committed brexiteers. There would be a rise in populist populist politics - a more aggressive form of populist politics.

"There would and an immediate demand for third referendum; and there would be a new type of UKIP.

"It would shake the fundamental trust between politics and voters; and it would be bad for democracy."

Mr Stewart, the government's prisons minister, was speaking a week after his fellow Conservative MP Anna Soubry spoke of how she felt physically threatened by pro-Brexit protesters in Westminster who yelled abuse at her, and taunted her with chants of "Nazi."

"This is a very small group of known, right-wing extremists with history of public order offending, criminal offences, who the police can and should make sure do not continue to commit those offences," Ms Soubry said.

"And the line is very clear between when it is a peaceful, lawful protest and when it is clearly intimidating and it's designed to intimidate and shut down democracy, shut up MPs, shut up broadcasters."

The Metropolitan Police have deployed more officers outside parliament as a result of the harassment.

In a letter to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, Commons Speaker John Bercow acknowledged that police have a "difficult job" balancing the needs of protesters and the public.

But he said there was a clear difference between those who shouted from a distance, waving placards, and those who invaded an MP's personal space and subjected them to "menacing, racist, sexist and misogynistic" tirades.