THE PRIME Minister has begun his day of apologies after the publication of the Sue Gray report.

Speaking in the Commons, he told MPs he was "humbled" by what has happened, but insisted he did not mislead them when he said the rules had been followed.

He said he was "surprised" by the report, and apologised to the cleaning and secueity staff who had been mistreated by No.10 staff, as detailed in the report.

He said: "I have been as surprised and disappointed as anyone else in this House as the revelations have unfolded and, frankly, I have been appalled by some of the behaviour, particularly in the treatment of the security and the cleaning staff.

“And I’d like to apologise to those members of staff and I expect anyone who behaved in that way to apologise to them as well." 

Mr Johnson said he thought it was time to say "thank you to Sue Gray" and "collectively move on" from the saga, as he fielded questions from angry MPs. 

He continued: "I’m happy to set on the record now that when I came to this House and said, in all sincerity, that the rules and guidance had been followed at all times, it was what I believed to be true.

“It was certainly the case that when I was present at gatherings to wish staff a farewell, and the House will note that my attendance at these moments – brief as it was – has not been found to be outside the rules.

“But clearly this was not the case for some of those gatherings after I had left and at other gatherings when I was not even in the building.

“So I would like to correct the record, to take this opportunity, not in any sense to absolve myself of responsibility – which I take and have always taken – but simply to explain why I spoke as I did in this House.”

Mr Johnson continued: "Boris Johnson told MPs: “I am confident with the changes and new structures that are now in place, that we are humbled by the experience and we have learned our lesson.

“And I want to conclude by saying that I, I am humbled and I have learned a lesson and I want to conclude by saying that whatever the failings – of Number 10 and the Cabinet Office throughout this very difficult period, for which I take full responsibility.

“I continue to believe that the civil and advisers in question, hundreds of them, thousands of them, some of whom are the very people who’ve received fines, are good, hard working people, motivated by the highest calling to do the very best for our country and I will always be proud of what they achieved, including procuring essential life saving PPE, creating the biggest testing programme in Europe and helping to enable the development and distribution of the vaccine which got this country through the worst pandemic of a century.”

Sir Keir Starmer, Labour leader, said the report and the PM's behaviour was unacceptable and called on him to resign.

He said: "It is now impossible to defend the Prime Minister’s words to this House. This is about trust.

“Because during that May 20 press conference, the British public were told normal life as we know it is a long way off. But that wasn’t the case in Number 10. 

“Even now after 126 fines, they think it is everyone else’s fault but theirs. They expect others to take the blame whilst they cling on. They pretend that the Prime Minister has somehow been exonerated, as if the fact that he only broke the law once is worthy of praise.

“The truth is they set the bar for his conduct lower than a snake’s belly and now they expect the rest of us to congratulate him as he stumbles over it.”

Ian Blackford also repeated his previous calls for him to resign, saying "the fish rots from the head".

He said: " The Prime Minister brings shame on the office.

"Prime Minister, time is up. Resign, resign, resign before this House is forced to remove him.”

"It’s all a joke to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has lost the trust of the public. He has lost what little moral authority he had left.

"The Prime Minister has apologised many times, not because he feels any genuine remorse, he still refuses to even admit that there were parties and that he presided over them." 

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has declared his unwavering support the Prime Minisiter.

He said: "I understand that people are angry about what happened in Downing Street. 

"The Prime Minister has apologised again today, and made clear that he takes full responsibility for what went on in No 10. Lessons have been learned and changes have been made within No 10.

"The Prime Minister has my full support. He is tackling the rising cost of living at home and leading the international response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

"Now, we all need to get behind him and back him in dealing with these important issues."