A week really is a long time in politics.
It was late last week that Liverpool Labour councillor Alan Gibbons first started tongues wagging when he suggested he might vote against his party in the following week's crucial budget meeting.
The meeting and the votes taken at the annual budget are the most important in the council calendar and determine the spending plans, Council Tax rates and other crucial matters of how the council will be run throughout the next year.
So to vote against your own party's budget plans is no small matter, would constitute breaking the whip and likely lead to severe disciplinary action and possible expulsion.
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And Cllr Gibbons will have known this when making his intentions clear.
The heat was then turned up on Monday morning when Cllr Gibbons issued a letter to the ECHO announcing he would definitely be voting against his party in Wednesday's town hall meeting - and would be joined by five others.
Those five fellow Labour rebels would turn out to be Lindsay Melia, Rona Heron, Alfie Hincks, Alison Clarke and Joanne Calvert.
It was certainly an interesting mix of individuals - with some unexpected additions.
News of a significant Labour rebellion would make headlines in most councils, but Liverpool also has some particularly pertinent history when it comes to controversial budget votes.
In 1985, the council passed what was described as an illegal budget, in which spending exceeded income with a demand that the deficit be made up by the government.
It was the key moment in the infamous battle between Margaret Thatcher and the Militant wing of the Liverpool Labour group.
What followed were difficult scenes in which 30,000 council staff were issued with redundancy notices, a tactic the Militant-dominated council used to try and gain leeway in its crippling battle with the government.
The Liverpool rebels have insisted throughout that they had no desire to pass an illegal budget, stating instead that alternatives should be made to the council's budget and they 'would not vote for cuts.'
Their chief concerns in the budget plan produced by Mayor Joanne Anderson and her cabinet included a new £40 green waste bin charge, reductions in social care budgets and a maximum Council Tax rise of 2.99%.
In announcing their intention to break the whip, the rebel group also took issue with a move to increase the local authority's reserves by £10 million - an action many believe has been brought about by the government commissioners currently installed at the Cunard.
They said they could not understand, comprehend or justify such a move at a time when so many in Liverpool are battling against soaring costs of living and poverty.
The ECHO report, confirming the identities of the six rebels, prompted feverish responses and speculation around the city's political circles, with many wondering if any other councillors were set to break ranks and join the breakaway group.
The plot was then thickened as the former Mayor and long-time group leader Joe Anderson made what is now a rare public intervention, tweeting he was in support of the councillors planning to vote against the budget - of which his daughter, Joanne Calvert, was one.
Mr Anderson stepped down from his role after being arrested in the corruption investigation that would eventually lead to the installation of the government commissioners currently overseeing the council's activities.
He has not been charged and denies wrongdoing.
Later that evening, the six rebel councillors chose not to attend the pre-budget Labour group meeting - which was described as 'very heated' by one councillor.
One member who did turn up to that meeting was Cllr George Knibb, who previously lead the breakaway Ward Labour group in the 1990s - and he was said to be very vocal about his unhappiness with the budget plan.
This unhappiness would turn into full scale rebellion at Wednesday's meeting, with Cllr Knibb joining the six others in breaking the whip on the budget vote.
It was during Monday's group meeting when councillors were informed that their colleagues who had broken ranks in the pages of the ECHO that morning had been suspended by the party.
A note circulated by group chief whip Ruth Bennett made clear the six councillors were not permitted to attend Labour Party meetings or use the Labour group office.
Copied into that note was Shelia Murphy, the veteran Labour figure who has been tasked with clearing up the problems within a Labour group described as having a 'toxic and bullying' culture after a national party investigation last year.
Ms Murphy took her seat behind the Labour benches at the town hall on Wednesday - with the six Labour rebels planting themselves on the opposite side, away from their former colleagues.
On the same row of benches - albeit at a distance away from the rebel group - was Cllr Knibb, confirming what many had predicted.
The debate itself was fairly well mannered compared to some we have seen in that building, but it was a significant moment in Liverpool's tumultuous political history as each of the seven Labour Councillors answered 'against' when asked for their vote on the party's budget plans.
And if the debate had lacked a little fizz, that was more than made up for when the ECHO gathered rebel councillors Gibbons and Hincks, along with the independent Anna Rothery to debate with Labour's budget backing Nick Small.
The live showdown saw Cllr Small accuse the whip-breakers of an 'abdication of duty', while those who voted against their party said the budget would make the lives of Liverpool people harder.
So what next? Well, there are a few things to look out for in the coming days.
Those who broke the whip have said they expect to now be expelled from the party - and it is understood this decision will be taken by a panel of the Labour's National Executive Committee.
The ECHO understands that, in anticipation of this result, the Labour rebels - along with ex-Labour councillors Anna Rothery, Sam Gorst and Sarah Morton - are set to meet in the days ahead to decide whether they will band together to form a new political grouping on the council.
If that grouping does come together, possibly under the banner of the Liverpool Community Party, we're told it is unlikely to have a traditional whipping system, with members allowed to vote freely on matters of conscience.
But it's certainly not a done deal, one rebel councillor told the ECHO: "Nothing concrete has been decided, we are going to get together and discuss it."
