"WHEN the curtain falls, it is time to get off the stage."
With those words, Mr John Major resigned the Tory leadership after taking his party to its worst poll defeat for 165 years.
As Conservatives across Britain awoke to the carnage of Labour's history making landslide, Mr Major left Downing Street for Buckingham Palace one last time, to tender his resignation to Queen Elizabeth.
Then, with more than a touch of class, he took his wife and family for lunch and to watch the cricket at The Oval.
Before that and despite pressure from some senior Tories to stay and permit a period of cool reflection Mr Major bowed out of the leadership, promising to remain at the service of his party for what he hoped would be "a brief interregnum".
In a moving and dignified speech, he offered the new Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, his "warmest congratulations" and spoke of "the immense privilege" to have served as prime minister for 6 1/2 years. And with that he fired the starting pistol for a leadership contest among the depleted ranks of the party's 165 MPs.
Mr Kenneth Clarke, the former Chancellor, swiftly announced that he would be a candidate in the contest, which may not take place until early or mid June.
He told Radio 4: "I certainly intend to be a candidate in the leadership election. I have obviously made no preparations.
I have no organisation and I shall be discussing this next week with my friends when parliament reassembles."
He added: "I am very sorry that John has stepped down. I think he has conducted himself with very great dignity and has come out of the campaign with great personal credit."
Mr Clarke is expected to be joined in battle by the former Home Secretary, Mr Michael Howard; the former Welsh Secretary, Mr William Hague; the former Health Secretary, Mr Stephen Dorrell; the former Education Secretary, Ms Gillian Shepherd; and Mr John Redwood, who challenged Mr Major for the leader ship in 1995.
With the candidates weighing their options and preparing to signal their intentions in a series of Sunday interview slots, there was speculation that the former Social Security Secretary, Mr Peter Lilley, would also throw his hat into the ring.
The bookmakers last night made Mr Michael Heseltine hot favourite to succeed at odds of 7/4. But despite his obvious enthusiasm, Mr Heseltine, at 64, is 20 years older than the newly elected prime minister.
While President Ronald Reagan assumed power aged 69 - which Mr Heseltine would be at the next election - the scale of Labour's victory on Thursday could force the Conservatives to seek a leader prepared for a long haul attempt to win back power possibly over two Labour terms.
Estimates suggest declared Euro sceptics will command a majority in the new Conservative parliamentary party. And as a bitter war of words continued about Europe and its role in the Tory defeat, anxious Tory strategists wondered how the party's two warring factions could now be reconciled in order to provide an effective opposition to the new government.
Mrs Theresa Gorman, MP, who had a scare in her Essex seat, welcomed Mr Major's decision to stand down.
"As an individual he is extremely charming. I have no personal animosity against him," she said. But she added: "I think he has done the right thing and it was time for him to go.
Signalling the continuation of the party's ideological battle, Mrs Gorman said people were "deeply concerned about losing our country to Brussels", and that she would not dream of supporting a proEuropean candidate.
After failing to hold any seats in Scotland or Wales, the Tories were repeatedly described as an English nationalist rump in British politics.
And a former Foreign Secretary, Lord Howe, warned that, with the average age of party members having risen to the low 60s, it risked losing contact with an increasingly Europhile younger generation.
Three other possible leadership contenders had their hopes snuffed out by the voters on Thursday. Mr Michael Portillo Mr Malcolm Rifkind and Mr Michael Forsyth were among seven cabinet members who lost their seats.