One of Boris Johnson’s great gifts was that people expected him to be funny. He could make a crowd laugh simply by standing up and saying hello. And the good news for Liz Truss is that on Wednesday she discovered she can do the same thing.

On the government benches, the audience was enjoying it less

“This morning I had meetings with my ministerial colleagues and others,” Truss said, opening the incantation that opens prime minister’s questions every week, the Labour MPs fell about. When, in answer to the first question, she began “I have been very clear…”, they roared their approval of this favourite catchphrase. She should lean into it, with a Bruce Forsyth-style finish: “…very clear, I have been!”

PMQs in many ways now resembles a game show, in which contestants have to see what kind of a commitment they can get out of the government. Last week the chancellor of the exchequer was sacked, but Labour’s Justin Madders wanted to go higher, and demanded the prime minister quit as well.

Dear oh dear, he wasn’t going to get that, at least not in this episode. “I am sorry and that I have made mistakes, but the right thing to do in those circumstances is to…” Truss stumbled for a moment, and a moment was all that the audience in this show needed to pile in with their own replies. “RESIGN!” the opposition benches shouted, as happy as if Oprah Winfrey had told them they were all going to get a car.

On the government benches, the audience was enjoying it less. Jacob Rees-Mogg and Simon Clarke looked hollow-eyed, like men who had, well, got the prime minister of their choice and realised it was going to cost them their seats. I hope you’re playing this at home.

It’s unlikely Keir Starmer is on the list of potential hosts for Have I Got News For You?, but perhaps they should reconsider him. He can, it turns out, deliver the joke that’s on the card. “A book is being written about the prime minister’s time in office,” he began. “Apparently, it is going to be out by Christmas. Is that the release date or the title?”

Good game, good game

Truss replied that she had been in office less than two months, and had “more of a record of action” in that time than Starmer had in his two and a half years as Labour leader. Presumably she meant she’d done more than him to help deliver a Labour government, which is probably true.

Or was it a game show where you have to see how many self-parodic statements you can utter in under a minute, with hesitation, repetition and deviation all very much encouraged? This seems the best explanation for Truss telling Starmer that “he needs to reflect on the economic reality” or “he has got no plan”. Good game, good game.

Other MPs joined in, trying to see what they could get the prime minister to promise before her time in the chamber was up. Would she host the England women’s football team? Of course! (Though from her answer it sounds like their calendar is sadly full at the moment.) The SNP’s Ian Blackford got a very high score, forcing Truss to commit once again to the pensions triple lock. Next to her, new chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt glanced at his phone, totting up the scores on the doors. What was all this costing? John Baron tried to add inflation-linked benefits to the prize pile (Higher! Higher!), and Andrew Mitchell wanted international development funding restored. Neither won an answer. You don’t get anything for a pair, not in this game.

Finally Truss escaped the chamber. Possibly the biggest winner was Sajid Javid, who had played his Joker and secured the suspension of the Downing Street aide who briefed against him to the Sunday papers.

Did we think the show was over for the day? Turned out we were through to the bonus round. In mid-afternoon, we were told that Suella Braverman had resigned. It wasn’t (and indeed isn’t) entirely clear why this had happened. Was she sacked over a technological mishap,  resigning as a matter of honour, or quitting in protest at moves to lift immigration restrictions? The idea that Truss simply fears keeping ministers who can’t work their email is perhaps supported by the fact that she’s being replaced by Grant Shapps, who is forever briefing journalists about his ability to use a smartphone.

As ministers aligned with Truss are removed and replaced with ministers aligned with Rishi Sunak, we are faced with a “Ship of Theseus” (or “Trigger’s Broom”, if you went to Oxford) paradox: at what stage does the Cabinet of Truss cease to be the Cabinet of Truss? This though is too deep a question for game shows, and the prime minister may not survive long enough to give an answer. A home secretary down and with multiple MPs preparing to rebel over fracking on Wednesday evening, it was clear she was now playing Double Jeopardy, where the scores can really change.