Boris Johnson has been told by a former minister and senior Tory MP to “in the name of God, go” as he lost one of his newest MPs in a dramatic defection to Labour minutes before Prime Minister’s Questions began.

Mr Johnson went into the Commons on Wednesday with his premiership on life support, as a group of Tories who won their seats in the 2019 election landslide appeared to have lost faith in their boss.

But the anger levelled at the PM was not contained to just one wing of the Conservative Party, with former minister and Tory grandee David Davis telling Mr Johnson: “You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. In the name of God, go.”

It comes after Christian Wakeford, the MP for Bury South who has a majority of just 402, announced minutes before the PM arrived in the Commons that he had defected to Labour, accusing Mr Johnson of being “incapable of offering the leadership and government this country deserves”.

Mr Johnson apologised once again for the partygate saga which threatens to be the death knell for his time as Prime Minister.

But he said it was for senior official Sue Gray’s inquiry “to come forward with an explanation of what happened”, as he indicated the report would be published next week.