Boris Johnson received a frosty reception from the public as he entered St Paul’s Cathedral for the service of thanksgiving – and pundits immediately seized on how the scene would be interpreted by Conservative MPs.
The prime minister faced boos – and a smattering of cheers – as he walked up the steps with wife Carrie Johnson to attend the Platinum Jubilee event on Friday.
It comes after months of controversy for Johnson and the Tory government following a number of rule-breaking Number 10 parties during lockdown.
After the report by senior civil servant Sue Gray found boozy drinks parties were held at the heart of government, there has been a drip-drip of Tory MPs calling for their leader to go.
There is a growing belief in Westminster that it is only a matter of when – not if – the 54 letters needed from Johnson’s MPs to trigger a confidence vote are reached.
And Friday won’t have helped.
It looked like a one-two punch from the crowd.
The PM was also heckled and booed more as he left the service, with one person saying “fuck off Boris”.
Some on social media enjoyed it.
And a Johnson loyalist questioned it.
The point seemed to that the crowd was not the Johnson-hating usual suspects.
Others speculated on the impact on his precarious hold on the party leadership.
In The Times, Conservative peer Danny Finkelstein wrote: “This is not a crowd that a Tory wants to lose.” Many on Twitter shared the view.