It was meant to be the day when the government got back on the front foot.
After weeks of delay, the much-vaunted levelling up white paper was finally going to see the light of day.
Alongside getting Brexit done, Boris Johnson’s pledge to level up the country helped propel the Tories to their 80-seat majority in 2019.
Despite the fact that no one, not least the PM himself, could explain precisely what levelling up actually meant, the policy developed an almost mythical quality.
Michael Gove was the unlucky man tasked with making Johnson’s vision (such as it was) a reality and, finally, it was being unveiled today.
But at the same time as the levelling up secretary was touring the studios this morning to talk about the fruits of his labour, defence select committee chair Tobias Ellwood was telling Sky News that he wanted Johnson to go and would be submitting a letter of no confidence to that effect.
Partygate was paralysing the government, he said, while the PM’s decision to smear Keir Starmer with untrue allegations about Jimmy Savile was dragging the Tories through the mud.
“I mean who advised the prime minister to say this?,” Ellwood said. “We’re better than this, we must seek to improve our standards and rise above where we are today.”
A few hours later, another rebel went public, this time 2019 intake member Anthony Mangnall.
In a brutal takedown of his leader, the Totnes and South Devon MP tweeted: “At this time I can no longer support the PM. His actions and mistruths are overshadowing the extraordinary work of so many excellent ministers and colleagues. I have submitted a letter of no confidence.”
Significantly, he went public just as Gove was on his feet making a statement to MPs on levelling up.
And then, just in time for the 5pm news – which Number 10 spin doctors would have expected to be leading on levelling up – the Conservative grandee Gary Streeter announced that he too was submitting a letter of no confidence.
In a statement on his Facebook page, the South West Devon MP said: “I cannot reconcile the pain and sacrifice of the vast majority of the British public during lockdown withe the attitude and activities of those working in Downing Street.
“Accordingly, I have now submitted a letter seeking a motion of no confidence in the prime minister.”
If it all felt co-ordinated to inflict maximum damage on the PM, that’s because it was. And that should worry Team Johnson more than anything.
It took the number we know to have submitted letters to 11, but one notable rebel told HuffPost UK that there could be as many as 30 more who have done so, edging the total closer to the 54 needed to trigger a vote.
Ironically, all this happened on a day when Johnson gave one of his strongest performances at PMQs. He was on top of his brief, pugnacious and gave as good as he got from Keir Starmer.
However, he was also completely unrepentant on the Jimmy Savile row, something which has has gone down very badly with many of his backbenchers.
Last week, Labour described Johnson’s administration as a “zombie government” too busy dealing with scandal and an internal civil war to properly run the country.
As the launch of their flagship levelling up white paper turned to dust, it was hard to argue with that assessment.