Twenty-four hours after the worst moment of Theresa May’s career, three members of her cabinet decided her time was up as prime minister. It was Thursday afternoon when one picked up the telephone, called a colleague and said: “It can’t go on like this.”

They both thought about what they had seen the day before — a prime minister in meltdown at one of the key moments of her year, a speech rendered both tragedy and farce thanks to a pushy comedian, a coughing fit and a collapsing set. To the ministers it was more than just an unfortunate set of circumstances, it was a metaphor for a government that had been paralysed since the general election setback.

They considered their approach and talked to