After months of turmoil the game is finally up for Boris Johnson
And with two bombshell letters, Britain was once again plunged into a constitutional crisis.
A pair of resignations – delivered half and hour apart in what was surely a coordinated attack – gave a damning verdict on Boris Johnson’s leadership.
For Bromsgrove MP Sajid Javid, voters now believed Mr Johnson’s administration was neither competent nor “acting in the national interest”.
"You have lost my confidence," he told the PM.
Outgoing chancellor Rishi Sunak, meanwhile, said the public rightly expected government to be conducted “properly, competently and seriously”.
“We can’t continue like this,” he added.
The clear message from Mr Sunak and Mr Javid is that they no longer considered Mr Johnson to be ethically sound enough to lead the Conservatives in government.
It leaves Mr Johnson hanging onto power by the skin of his teeth.
The truth is there has been a sense of inevitability about Mr Johnson’s departure since early last month when 148 of his own MPs – two-fifths of the Conservative bench – voted to get rid of him.
Despite his supporters protestations to the contrary, it’s been a case of when, not if the PM will go.
It looks increasingly like his disastrous handling of the Chris Pincher scandal will be the straw that finally breaks the camel’s back.
Even before the Cabinet resignations, questions were being asked over what appears to be a total inability to tell the truth at Number 10.
Many backbench MPs who have stood by the PM – often against their better judgment – will now be preparing to publicly withdraw their support.
Earlier this year they were told things would change in the wake of partygate, but instead things have deteriorated further.
With the Conservatives now slumping in the polls and ministers heading for the exit door, it would be natural to start thinking that under Mr Johnson’s tainted stewardship, the party has no hope of winning the next general election.
It is unlikely that Mr Johnson will give up his position without a fight.
And last night Cabinet allies including Nadine Dorries, Priti Patel and Dominic Raab all rallied around him.
In their heart of hearts, even they must realise the game is up.
