The sense of relief in Westminster when Wes Streeting’s resignation letter finally landed was palpable.
Even the now former health secretary’s critics and enemies in the party were worried until 1pm that he had “bottled it” again, with a challenge that has now been on the cards since Monday afternoon.
MPs were complaining “we can’t just limp on, we need to resolve this” as the prime minister clung on in his bunker in Downing Street, “in office but not in power,” as Kemi Badenoch put it.
Mr Streeting clearly wanted to leave with one final success in his former brief, and this morning it was announced the NHS had achieved the interim target of 65 per cent NHS patients being seen in less than 18 weeks.
And his resignation suggests that he now believes he can get the required number of fellow Labour MPs to support his likely challenge for the leadership. Although the call in his letter for a longer contest and the absence of an immediate leadership bid being launched suggests he is still playing for time to get his supporters lined up.
The bigger picture here though is that this brings a much quicker end to the Keir Starmer premiership.
While the now former health secretary has not formally launched his challenge yet, his intentions are obvious.
The move had to happen now, because a delay could have allowed the much more popular and unifying candidate Andy Burnham to return to parliament as an MP amid growing rumours allies were considering resigning from their seats to give him a chance to run. Instead, Mr Burnham is stuck in Greater Manchester as mayor.
Sir Keir has made it clear he will fight Mr Streeting for his leadership but is facing the prospect of a delegation of cabinet ministers going to him this afternoon to tell him it is over.
Once Mr Streeting formally launches a bid, others are likely to follow.
Now she is clear of her tax issues, former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner is the obvious candidate of the left to take on Mr Streeting.
She is a “Marmite character” but is now the bookmakers’ favourite to win because of the make-up of the Labour Party and trade union voters in a contest.
Meanwhile, other candidates cannot be ruled out yet. Eyes will be on energy secretary Ed Miliband, a former leader who lost in 2015, but has been eyeing a second go.
Defence minister Al Carns is ready to make the leap according to supporters who briefed The Independent last night. As a distinguished former Royal Marines commander he brings a very different perspective to the top job.
It seems unlikely that home secretary Shabana Mahmood and foreign secretary Yvette Cooper will jump into the race as well. But their support could be crucial for the winning candidate particularly in getting support from Labour MPs to get on the ballot.
The reality though is that Mr Streeting has done the one thing he always wanted to avoid. He is the man who wielded the knife to finish off Sir Keir. The old adage of “the one to wield the knife [shall] never wear the crown” will hang over him now.
But from Monday it was always going to end this way. From the moment that Chris Curtis, chair of the growth group and a Streeting ally, called for Starmer to go the cascade of MPs demanding a change came from the former health secretary’s allies.
The Independent first revealed that he was poised to launch his bid. Now four days of plotting later he has finally held his nerve, left the government and appears to be on the verge of making a run to be leader.
But even now it seems unlikely that he will be the one to emerge victorious for all his bravado.