Cheers, tears and bad blood - the view from Committee Room 14
Theresa May's political fate hung in the balance for four hours in a stiflingly hot corridor of the House of Commons.
Tuesday 18 December 2018 14:42, UK
"Nothing has changed, has it?," one critic of the PM asked another MP; echoing Theresa May's unwanted slogan from her failed snap election campaign.
They were fresh from hearing the PM's 40-minute plea to Tory MPs to save her job.
And they were subsequently among the early voters as the Conservative Party delivered a verdict on their embattled leader through a secret ballot.
Over a four-hour period in Room 14 on the committee corridor of the House of Commons, Mrs May's political fate hung in the balance.
The setting became stiflingly hot as MPs first crowded around Room 14's wooden doors, before filing in for a meeting of the party's 1922 Committee.
Mrs May's subsequent arrival, to make a career-defining address, was greeted by cheers and the banging of desks.
It was suggested Tory whips might have been banging near the walls and doors, in order to exaggerate the sounds heard by the throng of journalists listening intently outside.
Surely not.
A further five rounds of banging of desks were heard before top Brexiteers David Davis and Sir Bill Cash, one of those wanting the PM to be ousted, left the room together.
Moments later, Mrs May herself hurried away as MPs briefed journalists on whether she had done enough to save herself.
One Brexiteer, an arch-critic of the PM, claimed "some ministers were crying in there"; while another MP said Mrs May was "passionate" - although they admitted it was all relative when it comes to a politician nicknamed the "Maybot".
It emerged the prime minister had vowed not to lead the Tories into the 2022 general election, having admitted she had come to realise the party would be better served by another leader.
Would that assurance be enough for MPs to allow her to remain in charge for the immediate future, as she battles to get her Brexit deal through parliament?
Within minutes of the end of the 1922 meeting, they queued to deliver their verdict.
Cabinet ministers Chris Grayling, Matt Hancock and Sajid Javid, all publicly loyal to Mrs May, were among early voters in the confidence vote.
Another loyal minister joked as they arrived: "I'm here to do my civic duty!"
Those arriving early had noted the advantages of getting their evening's business done and out the way.
One May loyalist loudly declared they were off to one of parliament's bars "to get sloshed" after casting their vote.
Charlie Elphicke, who had his suspension of the Tory whip controversially lifted late in the afternoon, also arrived take part in the ballot.
The parade of MPs soon slowed to a trickle as a now jovial Mr Davis, the former Brexit secretary, joked with waiting journalists but refused to reveal which way he had voted.
Neither did fellow Brexit rebel Boris Johnson, nor International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt.
Leader of the House of Commons Andrea Leadsom arrived at Room 14 and joked: "Am I allowed in?"
After little more than an hour of the vote having opened, the prime minister herself arrived to cast her ballot.
She smiled as she left before being whisked away from the loitering journalists by her aides.
Her fate was known in little more than 90 minutes.
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson was the last MP to vote, before the ballot box was hurried away for the crucial ballot papers to be counted.
Those who had voted later returned to hear the verdict, to be delivered by 1922 chair Sir Graham Brady in the same Room 14.
When the result came - in the PM's favour - cheers rung out before Mrs May's chief whip Julian Smith was the first to rush away, to be greeted with a celebratory slap on the back by a fellow minister.
As others streamed out, the briefing war began as the pro-May and anti-May camps attempted to spin the result in their favour.
Justice Secretary David Gauke hailed the "comfortable margin" of victory for the PM, adding it had dealt with the issue of Mrs May's leadership for 12 months, allowing her to concentrate on delivering Brexit.
However, those who want Mrs May gone from 10 Downing Street argued not having the confidence of 117 Tory MPs was "very bad news" and "an incredibly sobering result".
"Something has changed," insisted arch-Brexiteer Mark Francois as he exited.