The looks on the faces of Tory MPs said it all.
For the second week in a row, Rishi Sunak was being comprehensively beaten by Keir Starmer at prime minister’s questions.
The Labour leader went to town on the resignation of Gavin Williamson over bullying allegations, and what it said about Sunak’s judgement and commitment to “professionalism, integrity and accountability”.
To mocking laughter from Labour MPs, the PM said that while he “obviously regretted” making Williamson cabinet minister without portfolio, he believed the situation had been “dealt with properly” by Number 10.
That rather ignored the fact that Sunak knew about the allegations facing his close ally before giving him the job, and was still insisting he had “confidence” in him yesterday morning.
As one Labour source observed: “If it was up to Sunak, Williamson would still be there. He resigned - he didn’t sack him.”
It really wasn’t supposed to be like this.
After a traumatic summer which saw dozens of ministers resign, the demise of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, and the Tories plummet in the polls, the new PM was meant to give his troops some reasons for optimism.
But after just two weeks in the job, Sunak is already showing signs of following in his two predecessors’ less-than-illustrious footsteps.
From his disastrous decision to appoint Williamson to his chronic indecision over whether to attend Cop27, he is proving that there’s a bit more to being PM than having a neat haircut, wearing sharp suits and speaking in a posh accent.
An ability to defeat Starmer in the Commons can earn a Tory leader some valuable credit with his backbenchers, but the evidence so far suggests that Sunak is coming up short on this measure as well.
“Tough week” was how former minister described today’s performance, which was something of an understatement.
With next week’s autumn statement set to usher in deep spending cuts and tax rises for just about everyone in the country, the political climate is not about to get any easier for the prime minister.
On the plus side for Sunak, the political chaos of the last few months means there is no appetite among Conservative MPs for yet more change at the top, so he will be given time to turn things around.
But he really does need to start upping his game, or the Tory vultures will start circling again.