SCOTS actor Brian Cox has accused the Prime Minister of being a "compulsive liar" and expressed his shock that he is "tolerated".

The Succession star appeared on ITV's Peston last night, discussing the issue of social mobility, when he attacked Boris Johnson's relationship with the truth.

He said the PM "wouldnt know the truth if it landed on him" and said the country had "lost the plot".

Mr Cox explained: "We've lost the plot on so many levels, and now we have, we have a compulsive liar who's actually leading the country, and that liar is tolerated and I find that extraordinary."

He added: "I come back here and there's this man who cannot help...He cannot tell....He wouldn't know the truth if it landed on him." 

Cox, from Dundee, said he had hoped New Labour would bring in a new form of politics in 1997, but admitted: "But then Iraq, and the million-man march went for nothing."

Conservative MP Bob Seely defended Mr Johnson, saying he had "many fine qualities" but had "skirted around" some issues that he shouldn't have.

He said: "He has occasionally skirted around issues in a way that he shouldn’t.

“I hope we get over this period and I hope he makes his apologies and I hope they mean something.

“I’ve found him to be just really intellectually engaged and a good person when I deal with him, so I’m going to stick up for him in that sense. I wish this wretched partygate hadn’t happened.”