They are the words Tony Blair has probably been expecting, maybe even dreading: "It is now in the national interest for him to go."
And that short but significant remark by David Cameron is going to mark the political battle over the remaining weeks and few months of the prime minister's reign.
The message is simple. Every day Mr Blair remains in power is another damaging day for the country which is suffering under a government that cannot govern because it is led by a lame duck.
The Tory leader's evidence was that John Reid had said he wanted two-and-a-half years to complete the reforms of his department.
The prime minister, however, could not guarantee he would get that time because Mr Reid's "bitter rival" Gordon Brown now held all the levers and wanted him to fail, said Mr Cameron.
He said: "When is he going to realise it is all over? It is time for him to go."
National interest
The prime minister is used to this sort of provocation and hit back with his list of New Labour achievements on crime, the health service and so on.
Mr Cameron developed his theme - suggesting the prime minister was delusional, powerless and an obstacle to his ministers' work. Then he got to it.
"Why cannot the prime minister see the reality staring him in the face.
"The government can't plan, ministers are treading water, they are all waiting for the chancellor and not listening to you.
"Your authority is draining away. Why don't you accept what everybody knows - it is now in the national interest for you to go."
The prime minister's response was robust: "I'll tell you what I believe is in the national interest - that we continue with a strong economy, with the highest levels of employment and the lowest levels of unemployment."
But, even as he went on to list his health and education achievements, he must have recognised what everybody else watching the exchanges recognised - that this is now the Tory strategy, and it is potentially very powerful.
Large spanner
As far as David Cameron is concerned, from today on, Tony Blair is clinging on to power, unconcerned that by doing so he is damaging the country.
Many expect that the prime minister plans to wait until the day after the 3 May local and regional assembly elections - in which Labour is expected to do very badly - and then announce a timetable for his departure some time later in the summer.
He will have taken the hit for his successor on the poll results and then attempted to set the party on course for the new regime. It is a strategy which seems to have been quietly, if sometimes unhappily, accepted by all sides.
Mr Cameron is determined not to let him get away with it - he has a very large spanner he hopes to pitch into the works.
And it is to play on those doubts both inside the Labour Party and in the wider country about Mr Blair's leadership.
Mr Cameron's big decision was when to deploy that spanner. Too early and the attack is unsustainable, too late and events are upon him.
He has clearly calculated now is the time to go for it.
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