Boris Johnson has been forced to deny that he is a "habitual liar" in brutal Q&A with Mumsnet users.
The Prime Minister defended himself again from Partygate criticism by claiming it would not be "responsible" for him to quit Downing Street amid the Ukraine war and the cost of living crisis.
He complained that the Partygate saga had been "miserable" for people in No10 and hinted that he had considered his future but decided to brazen it out.
The PM was hauled over the coals by Mumsnet users as he heads into an anxious Jubilee weekend with the threat of no confidence vote hanging over him.
Top Tory Dominic Raab earlier insisted speculation over leadership was "yet more Westminster talking to itself" and Mr Johnson was going to lead the party to the next election.
But Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts put a series of blunt questions to the PM during a sit down in Downing Street, kicking off with: "Why should we believe anything you say when it has been proven you're a habitual liar?"
He replied: "First of all, I don't agree with the conclusion of the question asked, the premise of the question.
"But I think the best thing, the best way to answer that is to say look at what I get on, deliver on what I set out to do."
He repeated his apology the lockdown boozing in Downing Street but said he was "taken aback" to get a fine from police for his own birthday do in June 2020.
Mr Johnson said: "If people look at the event in question [his birthday bash] it felt to me like a work event, I was there for a very short period of time in the Cabinet Office at my desk and, you know, I was very, very surprised and taken aback to get an FPN but of course I paid it.
"I think that on why am I still here, I'm still here because we've got huge pressures economically, we've got to get on, you know, we've got the biggest war in Europe for 80 years, and we've got a massive agenda to deliver which I was elected to deliver.
"I've thought about all these questions a lot, as you can imagine, and I just cannot see how actually it'd be responsible right now - given everything that is going on simply to abandon a) the project which I embarked on but b)..."
Asked if he had lost public trust, he said: "Let's see about that and, yeah, I'm not going to deny the whole thing hasn't been a totally miserable experience for people in Government and we've got to learn from it and understand the mistakes we made and we've got to move forward."
Meanwhile, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said a vote of no confidence in Boris Johnson would be an "indulgence".
The PM's staunch ally said: "I can assure you that the overwhelming number of Conservative MPs are fully behind the Prime Minister, absolutely back him.
"There is obviously, I think probably led by one or two individuals, a campaign behind the scenes to try, attempt to remove the Prime Minister for individual reasons to do with personal ambition or other reasons."
Asked who was behind the campaign, she admitted she had "no idea" but it was "obviously a co-ordinated campaign".
She claimed Partygate had become a "Westminster-centric, Westminster bubble issue" and the public wanted to "move on".
