Labour’s Deputy Leader Tom Watson piles pressure on Corbyn as eleven shadow cabinet ministers QUIT
Swathes of the party's frontbench stand down but leader issues defiant statement saying he won't be resigning
BELEAGUERED Jeremy Corbyn will today be told to resign or face a leadership challenge following an extraordinary revolt by his top team.
Labour deputy leader Tom Watson will spell out the scale of the crisis in a crunch showdown with the veteran leftie.
It came after eleven shadow cabinet ministers dramatically quit and called for his head. MPs will pile on the pressure by demanding a no-confidence vote be held tomorrow if Mr Corbyn does not walk.
Yesterday the 67-year-old leader was defiantly insisting he is going nowhere despite an unprecedented rebellion which engulfed his party.
But last night he was dealt a mortal blow as Mr Watson refused to offer up his full support — saying his “single focus” was holding the party together.
It left Mr Corbyn without his deputy’s backing and on the brink of a humiliating exit after nine months in charge.
On a day of high drama in Westminster, the shadow cabinet ministers drip-fed their resignations from morning until night in a bid to oust Mr Corbyn.
They marched out after highly-respected shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn was fired in the early hours for saying he’d lost confidence in his leader.
It reflected widespread panic in the party that socialist Mr Corbyn will lead them to defeat if an early general election is held after Thursday’s Brexit vote.
MPs were shocked as his lacklustre referendum campaigning saw swathes of Labour heartlands vote to leave in defiance of their party’s pro-EU stance.
Mr Watson’s decision to step in and call talks is highly significant as he won huge backing from party members in last year’s deputy leadership election.
After rushing back from Glastonbury, where he shared images of himself enjoying Adele’s set and raving at 3.30am, the deputy said he was “deeply disappointed” that Mr Benn had been sacked. He was “equally saddened” that shadow cabinet colleagues had quit.
In an ominous message, the Brownite bruiser, who led an attempted coup against Tony Blair, said: “My single focus is to hold the Labour party together in very turbulent times.
“The nation needs an effective opposition, particularly as the current leadership of the country is so lamentable.
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“It’s very clear to me that we are heading for an early general election and the Labour party must be ready to form a Government. There’s much work to do. I will be meeting Jeremy Corbyn to discuss the way forward.”
A third of the shadow cabinet delivered withering verdicts on Mr Corbyn in resignation letters or TV interviews.
Mr Benn led the way as he told BBC1 presenter Andrew Marr: “He’s a good and decent man but he is not a leader, and that is the problem.”
As he quit, shadow Northern Ireland secretary Vernon Coaker told Mr Corbyn: “Our country requires leadership and vision that I do not believe you are in a position to provide.”
Shadow education secretary Lucy Powell said Labour faced an “existential threat” — adding: “We have, over many years, lost the support of our traditional communities.
“While I don’t blame you personally for that, I do not believe you understand their concerns sufficiently to re-engage with these communities.”
Shadow Scotland secretary Ian Murray and shadow environment secretary Kerry McCarthy both called for “strong leadership”, while shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander told Mr Corbyn he did not have “the capacity to shape the answers our country is demanding”.
Chris Bryant, Gloria De Piero, Lord Falconer, Karl Turner and Lilian Greenwood also quit. In a particularly bitter blow, shadow chief treasury secretary Seema Malhotra resigned hours after being praised as loyal by shadow chancellor John McDonnell — and just a day after introducing Mr Corbyn at a speech.
She said: “I have come to the view that under your leadership we will not be able to build bridges across the party, be the strong official opposition that the country needs, or reach out to voters and build confidence in Labour.”
As Mr Corbyn dug in, allies in Parliament and the union movement circled the wagons around him.
Mr McDonnell attacked “enemies of the party trying to divide and rule” — while denying claims by moderates that his allies were secretly phoning around about taking over himself.
Meanwhile shadow international development secretary Diane Abbott blasted colleagues for playing “Westminster games”. Union bosses also hit back, with Unite’s Len McCluskey calling the coup attempt “divisive and unnecessary”.
He threatened anti-Corbyn MPs with deselection and warned any attempt to keep the leader off the ballot paper in a subsequent leadership election “will lead to break-up of the Labour party”.
Shadow home secretary Andy Burnham angered colleagues by refusing to join the coup. Grassroots members of the hard-left Momentum group plan a rally today at the same time Labour MPs meet Mr Corbyn.
A spokesman for the leader insisted: “Jeremy is not resigning. He has got a huge mandate from the membership.”
If Mr Corbyn does not quit, MPs can force a leadership contest by getting 51 colleagues to nominate a rival.
Favourites include Mr Watson and shadow first secretary Angela Eagle.
Corbyn's Cabinet chaos: Everyone who has left so far
This is how the Shadow Cabinet departures played out:
Hilary Benn: The shadow foreign secretary was sacked by Mr Corbyn at around 1am "on the grounds that he has lost confidence in him".
Heidi Alexander: The shadow health secretary posted her letter of resignation to Twitter, saying a “change of leadership is essential” at 8.20am.
Gloria de Piero: The shadow minister for young people and voter registration wrote to Corbyn at 11am saying: “I do not believe you can deliver that victory at a general election.”
Ian Murray: Labour’s only MP in Scotland stood down live on TV, telling BBC's Sunday Politics around midday the party could not recover while its current leader was in place.
Lillian Greenwood: The shadow transport secretary resigned around 12.45pm to become the fifth member of the frontbench to go.
Lucy Powell: At 12.56pm the shadow education secretary posted her resignation on letter on Twitter, saying Jeremy Corbyn's position is now "untenable".
Kerry McCarthy: The shadow environment secretary followed suit at 1.10pm, writing that a “credible” alternative vision and a new leader is needed after the EU referendum
Seema Malhotra: The shadow chief secretary to the treasury and John McDonnell ally revealed she would be going at around 1.45pm.
Vernon Coaker: After a break of a few hours Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Vernon Coaker became eighth frontbencher to quit in protest.
Charlie Falconer: An hour later, the shadow justice secretary became the ninth person in total to leave the shadow cabinet.
Karl Turner: The shadow attorney general's resignation brought it up to 10 departures in less than 12 hours.
Chris Bryant: The shadow leader of the House told Corbyn 'someone new' was needed to unite the party.