Former cabinet minister Lord Heseltine has revealed he has never met Theresa May, after being sacked as a Government adviser for rebelling over Brexit.

The defiant Tory grandee was fired after he backed demands in the House of Lords for a "meaningful" vote on the final exit deal and said he was sorry the Government would lose his expertise.

The peer said had been working for the Government three to four days a week for the last six years, but that he had "no relationship" with the Prime Minister, was sacked by the chief whip in the Lords, and has still not heard from Number 10.

READ MORE: Chancellor Philip Hammond will hail £350m Budget bonus for Scotland as 'benefits of Union in action'

Lord Heseltine said he was forced to abandon dinner with his wife to receive his marching orders from chief whip Lord Taylor of Holbeach after the vote and debate on the Brexit Bill, in which he warned that quitting the European Union was the "most momentous peacetime decision of our time".

The former deputy prime minister said he knew there could be consequences if he rebelled but he was not warned that he could lose his roles advising the Government on a number of areas, including its industrial strategy.

Speaking to the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, he went on: "I heard nothing from Number 10, I've had no relationship with Number 10 since the new Prime Minister (Mrs May).

"But I'm not complaining, I was getting on with the job that I was doing."

He refused to comment on suggestions that his sacking was designed to intimidate Tory MPs who are considering rebelling when the "meaningful vote" amendment comes back to the Commons, expected on Monday.

"I've never met Theresa May and so I can't make a judgment. She's doing very well in the post, public opinion approves of what she is doing, and so I'm not going to get involved in a sort of tit-tat of personalities," he said.

"My preoccupation has been from the very beginning that I believe that the referendum result is the most disastrous peacetime result that we've seen in this country."

A Number 10 source has rejected the suggestion Lord Heseltine's sacking was a warning to Tory MPs who were thinking about backing peers' demands for a meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal.

If the Lords' amendment to that effect is backed by the Commons it will be written into law in the European Union (Notification Of Withdrawal) Bill.

But following the vote on Tuesday, Brexit Secretary David Davis said the Government was intending to overturn the result.

He said: "It is disappointing that the House of Lords has chosen to make further changes to a Bill that the Commons passed without amendment.

"It has a straightforward purpose, to enact the referendum result and allow the Government to get on with negotiating a new partnership with the EU.

"It is clear that some in the Lords would seek to frustrate that process, and it is the Government's intention to ensure that does not happen. We will now aim to overturn these amendments in the House of Commons."

Lord Heseltine was asked to help the Government with plans to restore deprived estates under David Cameron and was also involved with developing proposals for east London's future with George Osborne.

As well as advice on Swansea's city deal he has also worked with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and has been a national infrastructure commissioner.

After being sacked, he told the Press Association on Tuesday: "This is entirely the right of the Prime Minister and I'm sorry that the expertise which I have put at the Government's disposal over the last six years has now come to an end.

"However, in the last resort, I believe, as I said in the House of Lords, the future of this country is inextricably interwoven with our European friends.

READ MORE: Mexico: US plan to separate detained families would cause 'irreversible harm'

"It's the duty of Parliament to assert its sovereignty in determining the legacy we leave to new generations of young people."

He was one of 366 peers who inflicted a second defeat on the Government's Brexit Bill.

After three hours of heated exchanges, the Lords backed amending the Bill by a majority of 98.

After his announcement, Lord Heseltine received praise from Tory former business minister Anna Soubry, who said his absence would be felt.

The prominent Remain campaigner tweeted: "#MichaelHeseltine gave his time, enormous experience, great wisdom & remarkable energy to Cameron & May's Govt. He will be greatly missed."

Prominent Eurosceptic Tory MP Steve Baker, who chairs the pro-Brexit European Research Group, said Mrs May was right to sack Lord Heseltine.

"We can't have Government advisers publicly opposing the Government," he said.

Tory former chief whip Mark Harper said it was "quite reasonable" to sack Lord Heseltine for opposing Government policy.

Commenting on reports that up to 20 Tory MPs could rebel and back the Lords amendment, he told Today: "I used to find when I was Government chief whip to basically never believe the things that I read in the newspaper, I tended to talk to my colleagues.

"And I would just go back to the two issues that we're going to face next week on EU nationals and a vote in the Commons, the House of Commons has debated these matters already and we've already voted on them, and there were a small number of Conservatives that didn't support the Government but the Government won the vote on Parliament's role in this process with a majority of 33, which is around double our working majority.

READ MORE: Chancellor Philip Hammond will hail £350m Budget bonus for Scotland as 'benefits of Union in action'

"So I would expect the whips to be making the arguments with colleagues, as ministers are, making it clear that we want to not allow anyone to frustrate the process and that we want the Commons to remove these amendments."