Carefully and deliberately, Mr Michael Portillo has resisted invitations to put the knife in William Hague's back.
Within minutes of a BBC exit poll predicting another humiliating defeat for the Conservatives, the bookies' favourite in a Tory leadership contest warned against any "precipitate" action in the face of a second historic landslide victory for Labour.
It would be a "grave error", Mr Portillo warned, for anyone in the Conservative Party to leap to conclusions about Mr Hague's future, but a few hours later, as Ms Ann Widdecombe and Mr Iain Duncan Smith - both possible leadership contenders - tried to convince Mr Hague to stay, he was curiously absent.
If he decides to stand in a leadership contest, Mr Portillo's anti-euro credentials could secure the support of the majority of Conservative MPs, but only if he defeats the hard right of the party, which would undoubtedly swing behind Mr Duncan Smith. But Mr Portillo has hesitated in the past, notably in 1995 when many expected him to challenge Mr John Major. Then, as now, he loyally backed his leader.
Two years later in one of the most memorable moments of the 1997 election he was defeated by the Labour candidate - and the symbolism of the defeat was not lost on Mr Portillo.
He spent the next three years, until his return to the Commons in the Kensington and Chelsea by-election, trying to convince the Tories to adopt a more compassionate and "inclusive" brand of Conservatism. His efforts alarmed Conservative traditionalists and reportedly prompted Baroness Thatcher to observe that the new "touchy feely" Mr Portillo, once favoured as her successor, had become "very confused".
His revelation two years ago about a homosexual liaison in his youth did not damage him politically and ended years of media speculation about his private life, but speculation continued about whether he would be prepared to assume the mantle of leadership. Clearly, Mr Portillo has attracted much of the speculation about leadership challenges by refusing to categorically deny the rumours. His friends, however, insisted recently that he remained unconvinced about a leadership challenge.
That position may have been prompted by the calculation that Mr Hague should take the blame for a second election defeat or that the job was a poisoned chalice. Nonetheless, there is a lingering feeling that given the chance Mr Portillo would seize the opportunity with both hands.
He is an ambitious career politician who could take the Conservatives into a referendum on the euro with a consistent policy on ruling out the single currency for the next parliament. Speculation yesterday that Mr Portillo might agree on a leadership pact with the Europhile Mr Ken Clarke can only add to the sense of drama unfolding.