The Chairman of the 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady, had a difficult phone call to make this morning, when he had to ring Prime Minister Theresa May, and tell her that he had just received the requisite 48th 'no confidence' letter with regard to her leadership of the Conservative party, and that a vote would be held later tonight on her future.
Already, 153 Tories have promised they will support Mrs May, but she needs the support of 158 of them to remain PM, and, as it will be a secret vote, promises mean little.
She may, metaphorically speaking, of course, have to 'start looking for work'.
As well as a vote of 'no confidence', Mrs May will also face the judges in several other categories, including 'no competence', 'no coherence', and, most importantly, 'no conscience'.
She is guilty of all.
Experts say that she need not worry, however, bearing in mind that, in the dim and distant past, failures like her have faced much worse prospects than a rest for 18 months whilst the ship stabilises.
One said:
"She wants to count herself lucky that this isn't 16th-century Britain, where she'd have been strung up by the balls, and had her head mounted on London Bridge for the public to throw rotten fruit at for a couple of years!"
