A former Tory MP has complained he has not been able to get a teaching job because of the “woke agenda entrenching the education sector”.

Jonathan Gullis said he has been unemployed since losing his Stoke-on-Trent North and claimed his political views have stopped him from getting interviews.

The outspoken ex-deputy chairman of the Tories said being a conservative is “treated with disdain” among teachers.

He told Times Radio: “There are a lot of schools that will see who I used to represent, and maybe my views, which they may not like, and because of that I won’t even be given an interview.

“I think that is a damning indictment of the profession that I do love and care about.”

He went on to bemoan schools with “too many activists in the classroom” and said who is allowed to become a teacher is now determined by politics.

“It is not good for pupils, it is not good for parents, but particularly pupils because they need teachers to deliver high quality education, not the very rabid woke agenda that has sadly entrenched our education sector,” he added.

Mr Gullis, who was in parliament from 2019 until July, said he has applied for more than 30 jobs, and has his first interview coming up.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Tory conference, he said being an ex-MP was once “something that was wanted or desired”. “I think we are now seen as a problem,” he added.

He said: “It’s been hard, I’ll be frank, we are now three months on and I am still without a job, and that’s scary. I am a father of a four-year-old and a two-year-old.”

Mr Gullis was notorious as an MP for his outspoken views, which often sparked controversy. He once said anyone using the term white privilege should be reported to the Home Office as an extremist.

Mr Gullis has also said the foreign aid budget should not exist “at all”, attacked Church of England bishops for “preaching” about refugees and said Nigel Farage should be the home secretary.