Theresa May has torn into Boris Johnson over the partygate saga as Tory grandees expressed their fury in the wake of Sue Gray's report into rule-breaking parties.
The Tory former Prime Minister demanded to know if Mr Johnson did not "read the rules", understand them, or "didn't think the rules applied to No 10".
Senior Tories lined up to criticise the PM in a stormy Commons session, in a sign of danger for Mr Johnson who is battling to save his leadership.
The Prime Minister apologised and insisted "I get it and I will fix it" as he faced fresh calls to resign after Ms Gray's limited inquiry criticised "failures of leadership and judgment" in No 10.
In a rare intervention, Mrs May said Covid regulations "imposed significant restrictions" on people's freedoms and they had a right to expect the rules were being followed.
She told the PM: "What the Gray report does show is that No 10 Downing Street was not observing the regulations they had imposed on members of the public.
"So either he had not read the rules or didn't understand what they meant and others around him, or they didn't think the rules applied to No 10. Which was it?"
Mr Johnson replied: "No, Mr Speaker that is not what the Gray report says, I suggest that she waits to see the conclusion of the inquiry."
Former Tory cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell became the eighth Conservative MP to publicly call for the PM to quit in recent weeks.
He said: "I am deeply concerned by these events and very concerned indeed by some of the things he has said from that despatch box and has said to the British public and our constituents.
"When he kindly invited me to see him 10 days ago, I told him that I thought he should think very carefully about what was now in the best interests of our country and of the Conservative Party, and I have to tell him he no longer enjoys my support."
Red Wall Tory MP Aaron Bell delivered an angry attack on the PM after telling how he was unable to hug his family at his grandmother's funeral in May 2020.
The Newcastle-under-Lyme MP said: ""I drove for three hours from Staffordshire to Kent, there were only 10 at the funeral, many people who loved her had to watch online.
"I didn't hug my siblings, I didn't hug my parents, I gave the eulogy and then afterwards I didn't even go to her house for cup of tea. I drove back three hours from Kent to Staffordshire. Does the Prime Minister think I'm a fool?"
Mr Johnson replied: "No, and I want to thank (him) and I want to say how deeply I sympathise with him and his family for their loss, and all I can say is again that I'm very, very sorry for misjudgments that may have been made by me or anybody else in Number 10 and the Cabinet Office."
Tory MP Angela Richardson became the first member of the government to quit over the report - resigning as a junior aide to Michael Gove.
In a statement on Facebook, she said: "I share the deep disappointment that it has taken so long to get to this stage when there could have been an early acknowledgement and apology.
"Last week, I stepped back from my governmental responsibilities to invest more of my time realising the campaigns that I am working on for the people of Guildford, Cranleigh and our villages.
"In so doing, I will have more freedom to fulfil my promise to you as I hold the government to account, as a critical friend, on the issues that matter most to the people of Guildford."
Conservative backbench ringleader Steve Baker demanded to know what the PM would say to millions of people who "meticulously complied with all of the rules and suffered terribly for it".
He said: "Millions of people took seriously a communications campaign, apparently designed by behavioural psychologists to bully, to shame and to terrify them into compliance with minute restrictions on their freedom.
"What is my right honourable friend's central message to those people who meticulously complied with all of the rules and suffered terribly for it, including, I might say, those people whose mental health will have suffered appallingly as a result of the messages his Government was sending out?"
Mr Johnson said he owed a "massive debt of gratitude" to everyone who obeyed the rules.
Conservative MP Duncan Baker said: "North Norfolk consistently had some of the lowest levels of infection in the country. We followed the rules.
"So many of my constituents have been incensed, the damage that this is doing to the Government is enormous."
And senior Tory Sir Bernard Jenkin warned the PM: "The backbenches of the Conservative Party need no reminders about how to dispose of a failing leader."
