A TORY grandee has called on Boris Johnson to resign during a volatile Prime Minister's Questions. 

David Davis, who has been an MP since 1987, quoted advice to former PM Neville Chamberlain when he said Mr Johnson should step down.

In an unexpected move, Mr Davis said he had spent "weeks and months defending the Prime Minister against often angry constituents" and that he had reminded them of "his success in delivering Brexit, the vaccine rollout and many other things."

However, the MP said: "I expect my leaders to shoulder the responsibility for the actions they take. Yesterday, he did the opposite of that.

"I will remind him of a quotation which may be familiar to his ear: Leopold Amery to Neville Chamberlain.

Westminster sketch: In the name of God, go Boris … down to the shop for some booze!

“You have sat too long here for any good you have done. In the name of God, go.”

Mr Johnson was also bombarded by calls to resign from the opposition benches, including by Dame Diana Johnson of Labour.

She said that "when a Prime Minister is spending his time trying to convince the great British public that he’s actually stupid rather than dishonest, isn’t it time that he goes now?”

The Prime Minister urged those calling for him to quit to wait for the Sue Gray inquiry, which he suggested would be published "next week". 

He added: "I’ve made my point. I think that the British public have responded to what this Government has had to say in the most eloquent way possible.

“They have beaten Covid so far. They have helped to defeat Covid so far, with the steps they have taken, by getting vaccinated and implementing Plan B, and I thank them.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer appeared optimistic in the Commons today, as he joked that raucous Tory MPs opposite him had been instructed to "bring their own boos" as they tried to shout him down.

He also branded Mr Johnson "out of touch, out of control and soon to be out of office" during his questioning. 

The Herald:

Sir Keir asked the Prime Minister when he found out his staff were concerned about a garden party in Downing Street breaking lockdown rules.

He also accused Mr Johnson of mounting an "extraordinary defence" about the gatherings.

He explained: "The Prime Minister’s account gets more extraordinary with each version of his defence. If the Prime Minister’s new defence were true, it requires him to suggest that his staff are not being truthful when they say they warned him about the party.

“It requires the Prime Minister to expect us to believe that whilst every other person who was invited on May 20 to the party was told it was a social occasion, he alone was told it was a work meeting.

“It also requires the Prime Minister to ask us to accept that as he waded through the empty bottles and platters of sandwiches, he didn’t realise it was a party.

“Does the Prime Minister realise how ridiculous that sounds?”

Boris Johnson said “lots of people are interested in the exact legal justification” for the picture of the Labour leader “drinking a pint of beer, of a bottle of beer”.

The Prime Minister added: “Perhaps he can tell the House about that in a minute. But what I can tell the House is that throughout the pandemic, people across Government have been working flat out to protect the British public."

The Herald:

Ian Blackford, the leader of the SNP at Westminster, accused Mr Johnson of "laughing and partying" while 150,000 people in the UK have died. 

He said:" I’m afraid nobody is buying this act any more, there ought to be  some respect and dignity from the Prime Minister. Let’s remind ourselves more than 150,000 of our citizens died and he’s partying, he’s laughing. It simply isn’t acceptable.

“The fake contrition, the endless excuses, the empty promises that it’ll be different only if we give him one last chance.

"This is a Prime Minister who arrogantly believes that he’s above the rules, a Prime Minister who brazenly twists the truth, a Prime Minister who simply isn’t fit for office."

Mr Johnson said he did not agree with the SNP MP, saying that "when you look at the levels of trust that the British people, people in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland across the whole country have shown in Government, that the single biggest index of that trust has been their willingness to come forward voluntarily, unlike many other countries in the world to get vaccinated on a scale not seen anywhere elsewhere in Europe."