He may have clung on for now, but this is a Prime Minister who must know his time is nearly up.
Tonight 148 Conservative MPs voted to state that they had no confidence in Boris Johnson to be Prime Minister. It's a huge, seismic and quite likely a fatal blow to the man who soared to victory with an 80 seat majority just two-and-a-half years ago.
It's taken them long enough and multiple shameful episodes for them to get to this point, but here we are. Tonight's result is a chastening moment for a man who hates to be disliked but is finding out more and more people, including more than 40% of his own MPs, simply have no time left for him.
Johnson is a shameless spinner. Let's not forget that he saw the Sue Gray report - which to most people read like a damning indictment of his leadership, his character and the culture he created at the heart of government - as some sort of exoneration. He is a man who cannot handle being criticised, so when he is - he usually just acts as if it has not happened.
READ MORE: Live updates as Boris Johnson faces vote of no confidence
But even he surely cannot ignore the position he now finds himself in. He is now the bruised and beleaguered leader of a truly divided party and is hugely disliked by large swathes of the country - including many who voted for him in 2019.
So while you are likely to hear this walking wounded Prime Minister talk about tonight's vote as drawing a line under this matter or how he wants to move on to deliver an agenda that only he seems to know the details of, he will know deep down that the road will come to an end soon enough.
It may come later this month if Johnson leads the Tories to defeat in both the Wakefield and Tiverton by-elections, or it may come at the next election, but even this so-called 'Houdini of politics' will be unable to wriggle out of this one.
Votes of no confidence, even if successful, are typically a mere staging post on the road to political ruin. Thatcher famously resigned just eight days after winning such a vote, May quit six months after her victory in a similar contest. Major lasted a few more years after winning a confidence motion that he called himself - but he was trounced at the next General Election by Tony Blair.
Some have commented on what a remarkable turnaround it is for a Prime Minister to coast to power with an 80 seat majority only to face a humbling vote of no confidence just two and half years later, but many will not be surprised. When you elect a man with a reputation for lying, misleading, bending the rules and acting with impunity - you were always likely to reach this point. It is shameful that it's taken this long.
