The constituency count at Northallerton leisure centre had been finished for well over half an hour before Rishi Sunak finally emerged from a side room labelled “wellbeing suite”.
Surrounded by his security entourage, the prime minister did not exude wellbeing. While weary volunteers, candidates and activists had been waiting for him to appear, several more senior Conservatives had lost their seats.
As he was led to an initial huddle with other candidates, journalists demanded to know Sunak’s message to them.
The prime minister steadfastly ignored them before taking to the stage, to greet both success and failure.
In his own seat of Richmond and Northallerton — which according to some polling ahead of tonight’s election was at risk — Sunak held on comfortably, a victory that was met with a little more than a smattering of applause.
Standing on stage with a line-up that included Count Binface, a comedian with a bin on his head, the prime minister sounded tired and hoarse as he thanked his constituents and his colleagues.
The night had been “sobering”, admitted Sunak. “I’m sorry,” he told colleagues, before leaving the count to virtual silence.