Boris Johnson might have walked into a packed Commons chamber at lunchtime on Wednesday expecting a rough ride from opposition MPs.
But, as is so often the case, it was the attacks from his own Tory side of the House which left him looking more isolated than ever.
After a morning rocked by more government resignations - there have been more than 20 since Health Secretary Sajid Javid set the ball rolling at tea time last night - the Prime Minister tried to, as one No10 aide put it, “smash” his way through the latest crisis.
But as PMQs went on you could see the air gradually seeping from the PM’s bullish act of defiance - his own benches largely silent as they watched their leader’s ordeal unfold.
The first clinical strike came from the Tory MP Tim Loughton, the Conservative MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, who rose a few benches behind him and asked: “Does the Prime Minister think there are any circumstances in which he should resign?”.
It was a serious question but it was greeted with hoots of laughter from the opposition benches.
The Prime Minister replied: “Clearly if there were circumstances in which I felt it was impossible for the government to go on and discharge the mandate that we have been given or if I felt frustrated in my desire to support the Ukrainian people ...then i would [resign].
“But frankly...the job of a Prime Minister in difficult circumstances, when he’s been handed a colossal mandate is to keep going. That’s what I’m gonna do.”
The latest storm over Mr Johnson’s leadership has been prompted by his decision to press ahead with appointing the disgraced Conservative MP Chris Pincher to the position of Deputy Chief Whip in February.
Mr Pincher quit the post last week after allegations he drunkenly groped two men in the Carlton Club last Wednesday.
It has since emerged Mr Johnson was aware of previous complaints about the MP’s inappropriate behaviour.
In an even more damaging strike from his own side, Gary Sambrook, Tory MP for Birmingham Northfield, criticised claims that Mr Johnson had tried to blame Tory MPs for failing to intervene to stop Mr Pincher drinking too much at the Carlton.
He went on: “The Prime Minister constantly tries to deflect from the issue. Always tries to blame other people for mistakes. That there is nothing left for him to do other than to take responsibility and resign.” Opposition MPs applauded - something strictly forbidden in the chamber.
The third blow was delivered by a familiar critic, the Tory grandee David Davis, who six months ago attempted to skewer Mr Johnson with history, echoing Leo Amery’s famous appeal to Neville Chamberlain in 1940 to “in the name of God go”.
Harking back to that intervention, Mr Davis, the MP for Haltemprice and Howden, said on Wednesday: “It was clear that his approach to leadership and integrity was already creating a pipeline of problems that would paralyse proper government.
“Today I ask him to do the honourable thing to put the interests of the nation before his own interests. And before, in his own words, it does become impossible for the government to do its job.”
Mr Johnson replied simply: “I just couldn’t disagree with him more.”
For Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, this was an open goal and he delivered one of his better PMQs performances, focusing on the alleged victims of Mr Pincher and again shining a harsh spotlight on the Prime Minister’s integrity and the judgment of his cabinet.
"As for those who are left, only in office because no-one else is prepared to debase themselves any longer: the charge of the lightweight brigade. Have some self-respect."
He added: "In the middle of a crisis, doesn’t the country deserve better than a Z-list cast of nodding dogs?"
Mr Johnson replied: "It’s exactly when times are tough, that when the country faces pressures on the economy and pressures on their budgets and when we have the biggest war in Europe for 80 years, that is exactly the moment that you’d expect a government to continue with its work, not to walk away, and to get on with the job."
That is what Mr Johnson would like to do. But as members of the 1922 Committee prepare to meet to discuss another possible confidence vote, it feels like the momentum is moving against him.
