SNIP! The guillotine blade sliced three names from the Tory leadership ballot paper yesterday. Bye-bye, Mark Harper. Adios, Andrea Leadsom. Hasta la vista, Esther McVey.
No well-dones. No thanks-awfullys. No better-luck-next-times. Politics, it's a brutal business. But would we have it any other way?
About a hundred of us gathered to hear the result in the Gladstone Room, a beautiful, oak-panelled space overlooking the Thames. What a grand, imposing setting it was. Bottle-green Pugin wallpaper. Portcullis chairs. Sumptuous art.
The room has the feel of an Old Bailey courtroom but as we awaited the announcement it took on the boisterous atmosphere of a college dining hall. Each time the door opened there were exaggerated gasps of expectation. Rory Stewart played the class clown, ribbing his colleagues and cackling at his own jokes. Nerves?
Dame Cheryl Gillan with Charles Walker (left) and Bob Blackman (right) reads out the results of the first ballot in the Tory leadership ballot at the Houses of Parliament in Westminster on Thursday - Mark Harper, Andrea Leadsom, and Esther McVey failed to make the cut
Tory leadership hopeful Rory Stewart grins as he is driven to the Houses of Parliament for the first round of voting
Michael Gove is pictured leaving Parliament on Thursday - he came in third place, despite calls to pull out of the race
Eventually, acting head of the 1922 Committee Dame Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham) entered. There had been a 100 per cent turnout, she said in librarian tones, and no spoiled ballot papers.
The scores read out provided few surprises. So no daft 'oohs' or 'aahs'. Once the deed was done, MPs wrapped their knuckles on their desks approvingly. Out with the time-wasters – now they can get this party started.
Voting had taken place along the committee corridor, a 200-yard strip inside the Palace of Westminster. All morning, the place oozed intrigue and machination. Backbenchers love days like these. Suddenly everyone is interested in them. It's their version of an awards show. Liz Truss dressed up especially in a bright pink pantsuit. She looked like a Quality Street choc but twice as scrummy.
Most of the candidates arrived early. Raab, Leadsom, Hancock, Gove. 'Who did you vote for, Michael?' joked one wag. 'The best candidate, of course,' he chuckled.
Just past 10.30am, Theresa May swooshed past with her PPS Andrew Bowie (West Aberdeenshire) in tow. Whose name was the PM putting a cross against? 'None of your business!' she squawked over her shoulder, Bowie scampering to keep up.
Not long
