Challengers line up after 172 MPs tell Corbyn to go

JEREMY Corbyn faced the prospect of a leadership challenge last night after he vowed to fight on despite a crushing vote of no confidence.

Angela Eagle, who has stood in for the Labour leader at Prime Minister’s Questions, was considering a formal challenge which could come as early as today.

Mr Corbyn’s deputy Tom Watson has also taken soundings about a possible leadership bid, as has former minister Yvette Cooper.

But Labour MPs are urging contenders to reach a deal, believing that moderates must unite behind a single candidate if they are to have any hope of ousting Mr Corbyn in a leadership contest.

The moves came after a defiant Mr Corbyn refused to quit despite losing a vote of no confidence among his own MPs by 172 votes to 40.

As Mr Corbyn’s frontbench continued to resign en masse – last night the total was at 55 since Sunday – Labour grandees urged him to go.

He faced particular embarrassment when his newly-appointed education spokesman, Pat Glass, announced she was quitting politics barely 24 hours after her promotion. Mrs Glass, who will stand down at the next election, said she found the turmoil created by the EU referendum campaign ‘very, very difficult’.

Labour also faced embarrassment at a regular session of Business Questions in the Commons, when it had no business spokesman in place of Angela Eagle who had quit the previous day. Former foreign secretary Jack Straw said the party was in its worst ever crisis – and warned it would face electoral ‘ Armageddon’ unless Mr Corbyn went.

Mr Straw said Mr Corbyn and his dwindling band of hard-Left allies were living a ‘Trotskyite fantasy’ if they thought they could continue without the support of MPs.

Former home secretary Lord Blunkett warned that Labour would be ‘annihilated’ in a general election if Mr Corbyn remained leader.

The vote of no confidence dwarfs the 90 to 75 defeat that saw Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith forced from office in 2003.

But Mr Corbyn brushed aside calls for him to go, saying the vote had ‘no constitutional legitimacy’.

In a statement, he said Labour had a duty to unite at a time when the Government was in ‘ disarray’. The Marxist pointed out that he won a landslide victory last September from Labour members, adding: ‘I will not betray them by resigning.’

Union baron Len McCluskey also weighed in behind Mr Corbyn, calling individual MPs to urge them to back the Labour leader. The Unite boss orchestrated his ‘Save Corbyn’ campaign from Las Vegas where he was said to be on ‘union business’.

He said: ‘If anyone wants to change the Labour leadership, they must do it openly and democratically through an election, not through resignations and pointless posturing.’

Diane Abbott, the newly appointed shadow health secretary, said the vote of no confidence had ‘no meaning’. But Labour MPs continued to pile pressure on Mr Corbyn, who has been unable to fill frontbench roles as fast as they are vacated.

Labour MP Chris Evans yesterday accused Mr Corbyn and his team of ‘nastiness’. In an angry letter, he said: ‘You have been totally lacklustre when it’s come to the really big issues facing Britain and that simply isn’t good enough.’

Jess Phillips, who quit her role on the shadow education team, had a stand-up row with Mr Corbyn’s director of strategy Seumas Milne. The Birmingham Yardley Labour MP confronted Mr Milne near a Commons coffee bar about Mr Corbyn’s leadership and the ‘bullying’ tactics of his supporters, who she said had sent her threatening messages online.

Mr Milne told her: ‘It’s not personal. Stand a candidate.’ Mrs Phillips then shouted: ‘It is f****** personal to me.’

Labour MPs are discussing going ‘on strike’ today by refusing to sit behind Mr Corbyn in the Commons.

His refusal to quit after the vote of no confidence means they now face the prospect of trying to beat him in a leadership contest. This will be decided by party members and ‘supporters’ – who can sign up to vote for £3 under a controversial scheme introduced by Ed Miliband.