David Cameron said he does not regret calling the EU referendum, the morning after a disastrous night for the prime minister which saw MPs monumentally reject her Brexit deal. 

Filmed in his running gear on Wednesday, the former prime minister also said he wanted to “support” Theresa May following her crushing defeat in the Commons.

“I do not regret calling the referendum,” he told the BBC. “It was a promise I made two years before the 2015 general election, it was included in a manifesto, it was legislated for in parliament.”

Cameron said he “deeply” regretted that the public chose to vote for Brexit.

“I was leading the campaign to stay in the European Union and obviously I regret the difficulties and problems we have been having in trying to implement the result of that referendum,” he said.

May faces a vote of no confidence later on Wednesday – which she is expected to win – after suffering a massive parliamentary defeat of 230 votes over her controversial EU withdrawal agreement.

Cameron gave the current PM his backing. “I support the prime minister, I support her aim to have a partnership deal with Europe. That what needs to be put in place. That is what Parliament needs to try to deliver now,” he said.

MPs rejected the PM’s Brexit deal by 432 votes to 202 and Jeremy Corbyn told the Commons the “catastrophic” defeat was an “absolutely decisive” verdict on her Brexit negotiations.