After suffering the humiliation of being dumped as Education Secretary this week, Michael Gove found himself in the s*** again – after getting locked in the toilet on the first day of his new job.
Wipe that smile off your face!
The new Chief Whip was caught with his pants down (figuratively, perhaps even literally) when he became trapped in a toilet in the Houses of Parliament causing him to nearly miss a key Commons vote.
Mr Gove – widely regarded as the most unpopular Education Secretary ever – was booted out of his key position in David Cameron's 'male, pale and stale' Cabinet reshuffle – taking a £36,000 pay cut in the process.
As Chief Whip, Mr Gove is charged with ensuring Tory MPs turn up to vote on legislation. But on his first day in the job, it was claimed his attempt to make a good impression were put at risk after becoming stuck in a toilet.
Angela Eagle, Labour's Shadow Commons leader, told MPs in the Commons on Wednesday: "I'd like to welcome Mr Gove... he hasn't had the most auspicious of starts.
"Yesterday, he not only lost his first vote but he managed to get stuck in the toilet in the wrong lobby and he nearly broke his own whip.
"We know all about the former Education Secretary's love of free schools. Independent of any central authority - I wonder if he is keen to allow the emergence of lots of free Tory MPs who don't have to submit to his authority."
William Hague, who quit as Foreign Secretary to become Leader of the Commons, insisted: "You made fun of what he was doing yesterday - knowledge of who is in the toilets in whatever lobby is a very important piece of information for any Chief Whip.
"I take this as evidence he was carrying out his duties very assiduously."
Earlier Mr Gove was mocked in the Commons, as Labour leader Ed Miliband asked Mr Cameron: "We have always said we will support the Government when they do the right thing - so can I join thousands of parents across the country in congratulating you on getting rid of the Education Secretary? Why did you demote him?"
Mr Cameron hit back: "Let me tell you what the former Education Secretary achieved. A record number of academies, new free schools, standards rising across the country, and reforms that will endure.
"But isn't it extraordinary... on a day of a record increase in the numbers at work in our country, you will do anything not to talk about economic recovery, deficit falling, economy growing, numbers in work rising - and I'm not surprised you don't want to talk about people in work, your own job looks a bit shaky."
Playing down his surprise move, Mr Gove said: "Demotion, emotion, promotion, locomotion, I don't know how you would describe this move, though move it is, all I would say is that it's a privilege to serve."
Mr Gove's replacement is the previously relatively unknown Nicky Morgan, who will combine her new job with her other role as Women's Minister.