With his party still reeling after the resignation of six peers in protest at the sacking of Lord Cranborne - and with his leadership under intense scrutiny - a defiant Mr William Hague last night said he would not hesitate to do the same again.
While one Tory backbencher expressed alarm at the growing, and potentially lethal split between the party in the Commons and the Lords, the Conservative leader said he would sack anyone who behaved like Lord Cranborne - dismissed on Wednesday night after concluding a secret deal with the government. The deal granted a stay-of-execution for 91 hereditary peers during the first phase of House of Lords reform.
Tory and crossbench support for the deal has almost certainly scuppered Mr Hague's hopes of disrupting the government's legislative programme, and seems likely to enable ministers to process an additional number of voter-friendly bills in this session.
But Mr Hague last night vowed to step-up his attacks on the government's "blundering about" on the constitution when priority should be given to real problems in the economy and the NHS.
Addressing Tory candidates for next year's elections to the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff, Mr Hague said: "The government is drastically changing the constitution of this country without knowing where they are taking us. They have got the wrong priorities."
Of his immediate priority - to replace the four frontbench spokesmen who followed in Lord Cranborne's wake - Mr Hague said his new team would be announced next week, and that, "when the dust has settled and the smoke has cleared people will see it is a very strong team".
Despite intense speculation about his leadership in what remains of "the Tory press", Mr Hague insisted he had no regrets over Lord Cranborne's dismissal and would not have acted differently, despite the furore.
"I don't feel at all rocked or weakened by the events of the last 48 hours. I don't think I've ever had so many messages of support and encouragement from MPs and party members," he said.
Mr Michael Mates, joint secretary of the 1922 Backbench Committee, praised Mr Hague's performance: "We have had a very embarrassing week but the way that William Hague has come through his first crisis, and shown the most amazing coolness under pretty severe fire, bodes well for the future."