SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said that if Boris Johnson “has no sense of shame”, then the Tory backbenchers “must act to remove him”.

Blackford said that while the public “suffered pain and anguish”, the Prime Minister “was drinking and laughing behind the walls of his private garden”.

He added: “The public overwhelmingly think that the Prime Minister should resign.

“Trust has been lost and the public will not forgive or forget. If the Prime Minister has no sense of shame, then the Tory backbenchers must act to remove him.”

The Prime Minister replied: “I just want to thank the right honourable gentleman for his political advice, which I will take with a pinch of salt since it comes from the Scottish Nationalist Party.

“I think that most people looking objectively at what this Government has delivered over the last 18 months would agree that … and I renew my contrition for the mistakes that have been made, but we have delivered the fastest vaccine and the fastest booster rollout in Europe, and the result is that across our whole of our United Kingdom, we have the record number of people back in work.”

Earlier at PMQs Blackford urged Johnson to “do the decent thing” and resign.

He said: “The Prime Minister stands before us accused of betraying the nation’s trust, of treating the public with contempt, of breaking the laws set by his own Government.

“A former member of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces, Paul, wrote to me this morning. His father died without the love and support of his full family around them because they followed the regulations, Prime Minister.

“Paul said ‘as an ex-soldier, I know how to follow the rules but the Prime Minister has never followed any rules. He does what he wants, and he gets away with it every time’. The Prime Minister can’t get away with it again. Will the Prime Minister finally do the decent thing and resign or will his Tory MPs be forced to show him the door?”

Johnson replied: “I want to offer my condolences to his constituent who wrote to him and just to remind him of what I’ve said earlier, and with the greatest respect to him, I think that he should wait until the inquiry has concluded.”

Sir Keir Starmer told Johnson the “party is over” as he asked the Prime Minister to resign before he is kicked out by voters or Tory MPs.

The Labour leader told the Commons: “We’ve got the Prime Minister attending Downing Street parties – a clear breach of the rules. We’ve got the Prime Minister putting forward a series of ridiculous denials which he knows are untrue – a clear breach of the ministerial code.

“That code says ministers who knowingly mislead Parliament will be expected to offer their resignation.

“The party’s over, Prime Minister. The only question is will the British public kick him out, will his party kick him out or will he do the decent thing and resign?”

Johnson replied: “I know it is his objective and he is paid to try to remove me from office and I appreciate that and I accept that.

“But may I humbly suggest to him that he should wait until the inquiry has concluded, he should study it for himself and I will certainly respond as appropriate – and I hope that he does – but in the meantime, yes, I certainly wish that things had happened differently on the evening of May 20 and I apologise for all the misjudgements that have been made for which I take full responsibility.”