THE former wife of ex-Conservative whip and Poole MP Robert Syms took to Twitter to vent her frustration after he lost his position in the reshuffle.

Fiona-Natasha Syms, a self-proclaimed “David Cameron cheerleader”, joked that her children had defected to Labour after their dad was fired over the phone.

She broke the news on Twitter at 5.12pm and said: “The Prime Minister just fired the father of my kids over the phone. He gave up chairmanship of a committee to be a whip, worked hard and was widely acknowledged.

“He was utterly gracious and took it like a man, I am beyond furious. Loyalty counted for nothing.”

A short time later she posted: “Whoopsy, children have defected to Labour”.

The couple, who have two children, Imogen and Nicholas, announced their separation in February 2007 after seven years of marriage, but have not divorced. Mr Syms divorced Nicola Guy in 1999 but she continued to work as the MP’s full-time PA and constituency caseworker until 2009.

Expenses claims in 2009 showed that he paid £81,739 in 2008 to employ Miss Guy, his separated wife Fiona and one part-time secretary.

Tory MPs were urged by the party to reveal if they employed family members in 2009 and in light of this, Mr Syms let Fiona go as a member of staff.

At the time he said Fiona was considered a family member and was paid “between £20,000 and £30,000 a year” but Miss Guy was no longer deemed a family member.

Despite the reshuffle, Fiona also took to Twitter to say she was a “huge fan of the PM”.