The National:

HAVE you ever been surprised at how immature the Tories can be?

Tory MP Ben Wallace (and the UK's Minister for Security no less) has called independence supporters "losers".

In a row over Brexit on Twitter, Wallace said he was an intelligence officer in Northern Ireland during the first ceasefire negotiations in 1994.

He tweeted: "I was actually an intelligence officer in Northern Ireland during the first ceasefire negotiations in 1994 ... I can’t remember the EU or Micheal Barnier or the Border being a factor in any of it ...."

Twitter user Glenn Bradley claimed that in 1994 Wallace was actually a young officer in his third year of training.

When pro-independence group Hope Over Fear quoted Bradley's tweet, claiming that he was "another Tory caught lying", he hit back with: "55.3% said “NO”...which makes you a loser troll! Looooooser!"

The National understands that while Wallace was not serving in Mi5 (nicknamed Box), he DID work as an intelligence officer with his Regiment in East Tyrone in 1994.

An earlier version of this story claimed that Wallace had been "caught lying". We are happy to correct this.