Tory minister Anna Soubry embroiled in furious row over 'dirtiest train journey ever'

Soubry took to Twitter to complain about 'filthy' toilet, taped-up panels and late service on her Burton to Birmingham journey

Small business minister Anna Soubry (Rex)

A Tory minister has become embroiled in a furious row with a train operator after describing a train as the "dirtiest" she has ever travelled on.

Anna Soubry, the small business, industry and enterprise minister who attends Cabinet, posted pictures on Twitter of a toilet on a CrossCountry train which she said had no water supply, taped-up panels, dirty toliet seat and stained floor.

She also complained that the train - the 10.21 service from Burton to Birmingham - was late.

CrossCountry trains responded to her outburst insisting that the carriages on that service were undergoing refurbishment but said the train she was travelling on had yet to be repaired.

But Ms Soubry was not satisfied with the response, telling the train operator to clean the toilet and supply it with water as an "urgent priority" and describing the service as "shameful".

She later tagged her colleague, the transport minister Claire Perry, in a post saying: "Please make sure passengers get clean trains - now".

It started with this tweet on Monday morning:

Ms Soubry then posted pictures:

Then she dragged her colleague Claire Perry into the row:

She offered the train operator suggestions:

And she finished off by mocking CrossCountry trains: