Is everything OK for Boris Johnson?

Boris Johnson said his speech to the CBI conference had "gone over well".

Really? The prime minister has always played up the characteristics that set him apart from most politicians: gags, gaffes, informality, a shirt that's not quite tucked in. Given where he's ended up, with a historic majority, it hasn't exactly served him badly.

Indeed for his backers it's precisely that personality that appeals to so many voters - he's not the same as the grey, managerial class of politician which provokes so many cries of "They're all the same".

But was his rambling appearance at the lectern on Monday any different? The prime minister lost his place in his notes, appeared to be side-tracked about his visit to Peppa Pig World and at one point seemed to compare himself to the Biblical figure of Moses. It even prompted one reporter to ask Mr Johnson: "Is everything OK?"

Everyone can have a bad day at the office, of course. And on a different occasion the Tories might have been able to laugh off what happened. But being asked how you are is not the kind of question that any prime minister would want to be posed.

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And many Conservatives are querying exactly what is going on in Downing Street at the moment.

After a self-proclaimed mistake over sleaze that led to a fortnight of grisly headlines, and howls of complaint about plans for the railways last week, Mr Johnson's appearance at an important annual business conference could have been a moment to reassert his authority, to remind his backbenchers what the might of a leader with an 80-seat majority looks like.

But that is really not what panned out. If anything it gave his backbench troops a painful visual metaphor to agonise over of a prime minister, leafing through the pages of his prepared speech, asking for forgiveness because he has quite literally lost his place.

Tangible concern

On Monday night he faced more challenge from his own side over the less generous than expected plans for care for the elderly and vulnerable.

The vote was not lost, but the chunky number of quiet abstentions tell a story of their own. There is a tribe of Conservative MPs not angry enough to beat its political masters, but disappointed enough to withhold full support.

There is also tangible concern about what is going on in Downing Street. One senior MP and former minister, a friend of Mr Johnson, said there were "amateurs" in Number 10 and complained about shortfalls in the operation.

Others, even inside Downing Street, are urging cabinet ministers to insist on improvements, saying: "There is a lot of concern in the building... It's just not working."

Mr Johnson's political style does not rely on things always going smoothly, and the idea that the huge commitments this government has made would be pushed through without political disquiet is nonsensical.

But the prime minister's list of problems seems only to grow. His party's faith in his power to fix them seems to be going the other way.

What neither his backers or detractors can be sure of is whether this autumn is the beginning of a significant slide or a nasty, and perhaps predictable, case of mid-term blues.