The resignations of three pro-Remain Tory MPs - Anna Soubry, Heidi Allen and Sarah Wollaston - to join a group of Labour defectors in the new Independent Group reduced the Tories working majority in Parliament to eight.
Mrs May said: "No-one gets more frustrated than I do when people vote against the whip, particularly given the tight Parliamentary arithmetic that we face.
"But we are not a party of purges and retribution. We called a referendum and let people express their views - so we should not be seeking to deselect any of our MPs because of their views on Brexit.
"Our party is rightly a broad church - on that and other issues."
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