It was just after 6am, Rwanda time, that Boris Johnson emerged from a swimming pool to hear that his his loyal cabinet ally Oliver Dowden had resigned.
The beleaguered Prime Minister probably wanted to jump right back in and sink to the bottom. He will have known instantly what a devastating blow this is.
Mr Johnson had already been made aware of the crushing defeats that his party had suffered overnight in both Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton and the ramifications of those results for his party and his position.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson suffers double by-election humiliation
In Wakefield, Labour candidate Simon Lightwood comfortably took back the seat that Labour lost to the Tories in the 2019 General Election. Labour were expected to win, but the 4,925 majority will come as a huge boost for leader Keir Starmer who will only get into Downing Street by regaining plenty of so-called 'red wall' seats.
But the real political earthquake came in Devon. A humiliating result for the Tories saw Liberal Democrat candidate Richard Foord overturn a 24,000 plus majority to defeat the Tories by a comfortable 6,144 votes. The Lib Dems had been hopeful of snatching the seat, but will have been blown away to record a 30% swing, the third biggest ever in a by-election.
These results represent a catastrophic collapse of the Tory vote in seats that are very representative of the coalition that saw them surge to an 80-seat majority in December 2019. Boris Johnson's victory relied on consolidating the Tory heartlands of the south (like Tiverton) and taking Labour heartland seats in the north (like Wakefield). To lose a seat in each of these areas in such crushing fashion speaks volumes.
For the results to be followed so quickly by the resignation of a prominent and supportive cabinet colleague like Mr Dowden will have piled even more pressure on the Prime Minister, who some have accused of hiding abroad in full knowledge of how bad these results could be.
Mr Dowden has been a vociferous backer of Mr Johnson in his role of Conservative Party chairman and has been the leading attack dog in the culture wars that this government is so desperate to stoke up. It was only a matter of weeks ago that Mr Dowden offered Mr Johnson his full support ahead of the no confidence vote, stating that he believed his leader had 'demonstrated real leadership' and 'got the big calls right.'
Today he rowed back on that spectacularly, ominously telling the Prime Minister: "Yesterday’s parliamentary byelections are the latest in a run of very poor results for our party. We cannot carry on with business as usual. Somebody must take responsibility." On the face of it one may think Mr Dowden is taking responsibility as chair of the party, but for many this is a clear and obvious missile aimed at the Prime Minister.
So what happens now? Well Mr Johnson has already made it clear that he will struggle on, battered and bloodied by scandal, rebellion and crushing electoral defeat. The no confidence vote that he unconvincingly won earlier this month means he technically shouldn't face another within the next year, but that is by no means a safety net for him.
If Mr Dowden's resignation is followed by a host of others from cabinet figures, then the Prime Minister would likely be forced from his post. As yet that has not happened and once again the Prime Minister seems to essentially be hanging on by virtue of there being no obvious challenger and a lack of bravery from those on the government payroll.
Whether he stumbles on towards a General Election or is put out of his misery before then, this is surely now a Prime Minister for whom the game is well and truly up.
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