“It is with a heavy heart that I resign as Chief Medical Officer,” she said in a brief statement, admitting that a “justifiable focus” on her behaviour “risked becoming a distraction” from hugely important task of getting the country through the coronavirus crisis.

Dr Catherine Calderwood was publicly imploring Scots to adhere to the ‘stay at home’ measures, while privately she was travelling to the east coast of Scotland to visit her second home at weekends. She was photographed with her family near a coastal retreat in Earlsferry and the images were published in The Scottish Sun late on Saturday.

The revelations prompted the police to visit Dr Calderwood’s home and issue her with a warning that the “legal instructions on not leaving your home without a reasonable excuse apply to everyone.”

The furore initially forced Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to exclude Dr Calderwood from daily media briefings, but following a further conversation the medic announced her resignation.