On the same morning, the Archbishop of York joined the Archbishop of Canterbury in criticising the plan to send migrants to Rwanda.

In his Easter Sunday sermon at York Minster, Stephen Cottrell said he had found it “so depressing and distressing this week to find that asylum seekers fleeing war, famine and oppression from deeply, deeply troubled parts of the world will not be treated with the dignity and compassion that is the right of every human being, and instead of being dealt with quickly and efficiently here on our soil will be shipped to Rwanda”.

Former prime minister Theresa May on Tuesday said she does not support the policy of sending migrants who arrive by unauthorised means 4,000 miles to East Africa.

And she questioned the “legality, practicality and efficacy” of the widely-criticised plans.

But senior Tory Dame Andrea Leadsom criticised as “absolutely abhorrent and inexplicable” criticism from people like Mr Welby.

Meanwhile, addressing the Prime Minister after his speech, the Tory MP for Colne Valley, Jason McCartney, was heard accusing Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer of a “whipping up of hysteria” and of using language that showed a “visceral hatred” of the Prime Minister.

Mr Johnson replied that there had been a “coarsening of the debate that does our politics no favours”.