On a sunny afternoon in July 2019, Boris Johnson swept into Number 10 - having dispatched Theresa May from the sidelines over her Brexit deal, the man who would be king had arrived.
I was in Downing Street that afternoon to witness Mr Johnson's first speech as Prime Minister. It was peppered with a fanciful boosterism that has come to define his career - things were going to change, we were told. His mission would be to "unite our country" and "answer the plea of the forgotten people and the left behind towns". Gone was the dour outlook of Mrs May and the austerity of David Cameron.
But as has so often proven to be the case throughout his premiership, his rhetoric on that day did not match his actions. Moments after preaching unity, Mr Johnson walked through the famous black door of Number 10 and immediately set about sacking rivals and taking revenge on those who had blocked his ambition. I vividly remember bumping into a panicked minister in Portcullis House that afternoon, who had received a blunt summons to Downing Street - he told me 'this is like that scene at the end of the Godfather, where there's multiple retribution killings'.
