Boris Johnson was booed by the crowd outside St Paul’s on Friday, as he arrived for a special Jubilee service of thanksgiving for the Queen.
The jeers were captured live on TV, as the prime minister walked up the steps of the cathedral with his wife Carrie.
The BBC commentator observed: “Oh, booing in the crowd there.”
“And you can hear it. There is really quite a lot of booing. Actually a substantial amount.”
They added: “Didn’t see that coming. That’s quite a moment.”
Later, Nadine Dorries leapt to Johnson’s defence – but the culture secretary’s loyalty appears to have been counter-productive.
The online mockery appeared to prompt Dorries to weigh in, with the Cabinet minister in charge of the media taking umbrage with a headline published by The Times that read: “Queen’s thanksgiving service: Boos and jeers for Boris Johnson outside St Paul’s.”
She wrote: “There were far, far more cheers, but that doesn’t make a good headline does it.”
The Times, seen by many as the UK’s national newspaper of record, replied brutally with an emoji and a video clearly showing how loud the booing was. It also posted a poll that asked, perhaps tongue in cheek, if boos or cheers were more prominent.
Few others took her position.
Other guests, including royals, cabinet ministers, Labour leader Keir Starmer, first ministers of the devolved governments and every living former prime minister, were not booed.
The Queen was absent from the event however, watching on television from Windsor Castle instead, after she suffered “discomfort” following a busy first day of festivities including a double balcony appearance and a beacon lighting.
It comes as Johnson looks to be on the verge of a no confidence vote, triggered by Tory MPs, in the wake of the partygate scandal.
The prime minister has resisted demands from across his party that he resign.
But he could be forced from office as soon as next week, if 54 MPs submit letters calling for a vote.
Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tories, is the only person who knows the number of letters that have been sent in.
It is widely expected in Westminster that Brady will wait until parliament returns from the current recess next Monday, after the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations, before revealing whether the 54 threshold had been met.