Boris is laughing at the public and the Tories have helped him do it - Ian Murray

Tory Culture Secretary, Nadine Dorries, took to Twitter to start a blue-on-blue spat, and in the process admitted that her own government left the NHS “wanting and inadequate’ ahead of the pandemic.

This also happens to accurately describe the state of the country after two and a half years of Boris Johnson’s premiership and 12 of Conservative rule – a view shared by many of his own backbenchers.

After Monday’s vote of no confidence, Boris Johnson only commands the support of 211 out of the 650 MPs in parliament.

But a majority of Conservative MPs have shown that the rot has set deep into their tired party.

On Monday, they had the opportunity to show some backbone and acknowledge that the British people are fed up with a Prime Minister who promises big but never delivers.

He has presided over a culture of lies and law-breaking and is utterly unfit for the office he holds.

However, a majority of Conservative MPs think he should stay as PM.

It is a choice the Conservative Party has made as they hitched themselves firmly to Boris Johnson’s catastrophic leadership and everything that he represents.

They believe that breaking the law is no impediment to making the law.

They believe that the public have no right to expect honest politicians.

And to make matters worse, the PM said to his MPs in private that he would do it all again – break his own laws. That’s not being “humbled” but laughing at the public.

For every day Johnson delays resigning, it’s another day we’re distracted from the real issues.

Households are facing the largest drop in disposable cash since records began, vital public services are facing spending cuts, and the NHS is under crushing pressure.

But in Scotland we’re saddled with two governments out of ideas and unwilling to respond to the emergency.

The Scottish Government spending review that was released last week is a damning indictment of the economic mismanagement that the SNP government have presided over.

And though she is wrong about most things, Nadine Dorries was correct about the state of our NHS.

In Scotland, waiting lists are spiralling out of control while the SNP sits on its hands. Today there are 708,000 people – one in eight Scots – on an NHS waiting list.

There are fewer GPs, longer waits for cancer care and across the UK our hospitals are crumbling.

The SNP does nothing but blame the UK Government, while the UK Parliament is in paralysis over the Conservative Party’s inability to remove the PM.

People across the country deserve an answer to the issues facing them, and explanations for the government mistakes both across the UK and in Scotland.

Fortunately, a General Election is on the horizon, and the choice in politics is clearer than ever before.

A Labour Party united under Keir Starmer’s leadership with a plan to ensure the country is never again plunged into a cost-of-living crisis, focused on growing the economy fairly so that we can afford world class public services, and determined to restore trust in politics.

Or a Conservative Party solely dedicated to propping up Boris Johnson.

We can do more than just oppose the Tories – Labour can boot out Boris.

Ian Murray is Labour MP for Edinburgh South and Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland