Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is among at least three Cabinet ministers to have told Keir Starmer it is time to quit, it is understood. Ms Mahmood is said to have been to Downing Street tonight to speak to Sir Keir, as he and his allies desperately ring MPs to beg for support.

It comes after four ministerial aides quit and more than 80 Labour MPs called for the Prime Minister to trigger a leadership contest. The PM is on the brink after critics rejected his bid to move on from Labour’s disastrous local election drubbing.

Over a quarter of Labour backbencers have called for Sir Keir to hand over the keys to Downing Street.

Tom Rutland, a parliamentary private secretary (PPS), said the Prime Minister had “lost authority” and should “set out a timetable for his departure”.

Joe Morris, a PPS to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, resigned his position and called for Sir Keir to go.

Naushabah Khan, Cabinet Office PPS, also quit and called for the PM to go. She called for “new leadership, so that we can rebuild trust and deliver the better future that the British people voted for”.

Sally Jameson, a PPS at the Home Office, urged Starmer to quit but did not leave her role herself.

And Melanie Ward, a PPS to David Lammy, quit on Monday night. She said in a scathing assessment: "It is clear that the Prime Minister no longer has the trust or confidence of the public to lead this change."

Another half-dozen PPSs expected to quit on Monday, it has been suggested.

Labour MP Tom Rutland, an aide to a minister, said: "It is with regret that I believe the Prime Minister should now set out a timetable for his departure and for a new leader to be chosen to lead the Labour Party and the country."

He added: “We also have a generational responsibility to stop Reform’s hatred and division from taking over our great country.

“It weighs heavily on me and all of us must do all we can to prevent this from happening.

“I do not have faith that the Prime Minister can meet this challenge.

“It is not compatible to hold this view and continue to serve on the frontbench, so I have resigned as a parliamentary private secretary to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and will continue to represent my wonderful constituents in East Worthing and Shoreham from the backbenches.”

Both Mr Streeting and Ms Rayner are reportedly ready to launch leadership bids on Tuesday.

The Prime Minister sought to face down critics on Monday with a promise to prove his doubters wrong, as former minister Catherine West withdrew threats to imminently launch a leadership challenge.

But his speech failed to quell demands that he quit or set out a timetable for his departure from discontented MPs.

The mutineers have gone public with their calls for him to set out a timetable to step down.

It sets up what is likely to be a bitter battle that could rip Labour apart as Blairites and the hard-Left wrestle for control.

The latter want a delay so Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has a chance to return to the Commons - while Mr Streeting would be favourite if the contest is resolved quickly.

Sir Keir made a last-ditch appeal for MPs to stick with him after the local elections humiliation.

He warned that there will be “chaos” if he is kicked out of No10, insisting he would fight on.

Facing down those calling for his resignation, Sir Keir said: “I’m not going to shy away from the fact that I’ve got some doubters, including in my own party.

“I’m not going to shy away from the fact that I have to prove them wrong, and I will.”

The Prime Minister’s speech had been billed as setting out sweeping changes needed to tackle the “big challenges” facing Britain.

But it failed to live up to expectations with more backbenchers breaking cover to call for his departure.

The drama escalated when Angela Rayner tee’d up a Left-wing “dream ticket” for the leadership, using a speech to a union conference to back Mr Burnham returning as an MP.

Backbencher Catherine West had seemingly helped Mr Streeting's cause over the weekend by unexpectedly launching a challenge to the Prime Minister.

However, she was persuaded to back off on Monday, later urging a timetable for Sir Keir to be replaced by September.
Ms West said his speech was “too little too late”.

“The results last Thursday show that the PM has failed to inspire hope. What is best for the party and country now is for an orderly transition.”

As the Labour civil war gathered pace yesterday (Mon), Streeting-ally, Chris Curtis, chair of the Labour Growth Group, added his voice to pressure for a change at the top.

Speculation about the Prime Minister’s future has surged since Thursday’s elections that saw Labour lose almost 1,500 English councillors, go backwards in Scotland and slump to third in Wales.

During his speech at a community centre in central London, Sir Keir set out a number of measures including legislation to nationalise British Steel and a plan to put the UK “at the heart of Europe”.

He cast the current political moment as a “battle for the soul” of the UK, warning that if Labour failed the country would head down “a very dark path”.

He said: “This is nothing less than a battle for the soul of our nation and I want to be crystal clear about how we will win it because we cannot win as a weaker version of Reform or the Greens.

“We can only win as a stronger version of Labour, a mainstream party of power, not protest.”