There was a certain Shakespearean symmetry in having so many knives plunged into Tom Mulcair's back on the Ides of March.

Et tu Niki? As in Ashton, the NDP MP who choked on weasel words Tuesday to non-answer a question on whether she still supported the NDP leader, indifference echoed by fellow MP Charlie Angus.

Et tu Jamie Nicholls? As in the former NDP MP who went negative on everything about Mulcair's leadership, which could only be translated as an invitation to step aside.

Et tu socialist caucus? That being a group of uncertain clout which which promotes an ouster, even though they never supported Mulcair or even Jack Layton in the first place.

And so they Brutusly and brutally stabbed away at Mulcair this week with more dissidents emerging, not sure if there is a better option to replace the leader who led the party to its second best electoral showing in history.

Trouble is, Mulcair had the misfortune to follow the best electoral showing in NDP history, so he looked bad by comparison.

But consider what he was facing when the writ dropped.

It was a Conservative government seemingly headed for re-election which excelled at demonizing deficits and personal tax hikes. So Mulcair promised to do neither while his rival Liberals promised to do both.

He didn't figure, and nor did anybody else, that voters were so sick of Stephen Harper, they'd ride the pendulum swing to Justin Trudeau's polar opposite positions.

Mulcair campaigned thinking a centrist platform was the key to winning government.

And had Canada not tipped into a technical recession during the campaign, which made deficits appealing, and Trudeau not excelled in debates where he was supposed to bomb, Mulcair might've scored a much better result.

Of course, even though the backstabbers doth protest too much, perhaps spilling their leader's blood now makes more sense than waiting two years for the next review, if they believe Mulcair's gotta go before the next election.

But if the Conservatives tilt far right in their leadership choice and the Liberals pump out so much sunshine they create a drought of achievement, having an experienced centre-left voice as NDP leader might look mighty appealing in 2019.

After all, the 2015 election proved the leap from third place to majority rule takes only one lucky campaign.