Around 4pm Boris Johnson will stand on the steps of Downing Street and make a short speech setting out his ambitions as Prime Minister .
Margaret Thatcher used the occasion to quote St Francis of Assisi and promised to bring harmony where there was discord before promptly doing the opposite.
Tony Blair vowed to restore trust in politics and then fuelled anti-politics sentiment through his use of spin and taking the country into the Iraq War.
Theresa May talked about ending the burning injustices and then oversaw a rise in child poverty and a record number of people using foodbanks.
With Johnson you can expect, if his rambling speech yesterday is anything to go by, that language will triumph over substance.
In medieval times the kings had fools by their side to whisper counsel and remind them of the absurdity of their position.
Now the jesters are running the country .
Johnson’s immediate task will be the appointment of a new Cabinet.
With no majority in the Commons his only resource is the power of patronage.
Reshuffles are messy at the best of times but they are even harder for the leader of a party which has spent nearly a decade in office.
By this stage capable and competent ministers have either served their time or have been booted out while the duds and the incompetents have been either been exposed as liabilities or deliberately left on the sidelines.
Johnson has made his task even harder by insisting that only no deal purists will be invited to serve.
Able people such as David Gauke, Justine Greening and Rory Stewart have been banished to the backbenches, diminishing the already shallow pool of talent.
Even Johnson is aware of the need to refresh a line up that looks stale and careworn so we are being promised a Cabinet that reflects modern Britain with promotions for Alok Sharma and the return of Priti Patel.
No doubt Gavin Williamson will also be rewarded for helping steer the leadership campaign.
The risk of bringing back the disgraced and the deadbeats is that they remind people of past failures rather than possible future glories.
In an indication of the problems which lie ahead, Johnson is reportedly locked in a stand off with Jeremy Hunt who is resisting demotion to the defence brief.
The other challenge for Johnson is persuading a sceptical public that he is sincere about his modernisation project .
Are we going to get the former London Mayor who spoke up for immigration and celebrated the capital’s diversity?
Or will we get synthetic touches that disguise an ugly Tory agenda which saw him hike public transport costs for the poorest, consistently vote for welfare cuts, fail to build enough affordable homes and champion the bankers?
Brexit has been the making of Johnson in terms of his leadership ambitions - the assumption is he joined the Leave campaign as the best way of advancing his own cause - but it has contaminated whatever reputation he had as a one nation Conservative.
In the end, whether he likes it or not, his premiership will be defined by only one issue.
You can follow all the day's events at our live blog here.
Today's agenda:
10.30am - Amber Rudd is quizzed by the Work and Pensions committee.
11.30am - Scottish questions in the Commons.
12pm - Theresa May takes her final PMQs.
2.20pm - Theresa May statement in Downing Street before she goes to the Palace to resign.
4pm - Boris Johnson statement on steps of Downing Street.
What I am reading:
Gordon Brown in the Mirror on what Boris Johnson’s first hours will be like
And
Andy Burnham, Steve Rotheram and Dan Jarvis have a message from the north for the new PM
