Top Labour politicians are on manoeuvres as speculation on who will be the first to break ranks and challenge Sir Keir Starmer reach fever pitch. It comes as the Prime Minister was left fighting for his survival after a slew of MP's demanded he step aside. Jess Philips, the women and safeguarding minister, shafted Sir Keir and stepped aside as she accused him of stalling and delaying urgent laws to make people safer.

But the pressure has only mounted for a besieged No10, as the Mayor of Manchester was spotted getting a train to the capital ahead of fears he could announce a bid to unseat his party leader. To do so, the so-called 'King of the North' would need to stitch up a resignation from an MP who would step aside and trigger a costly by-election to open a path for him to reenter parliament.

Clive Lewis, a left-leaning MP and vocal critic of the Prime Minister, has suggested in the past that he would surrender his Norwich seat to make this possible.

Health secretary Wes Streeting was reported to have been given the cold shoulder by Sir Keir at a meeting of the cabinet, where he had hoped to raise his concerns directly with his boss.

Mr Streeting, 43, is widely believed to have been plotting to launch a coup against Sir Keir for weeks.

He avoided the media, and was not one of the cadre of Cabinet members who exited No10 to defend the Prime Minister and express public support for him staying in post.

Home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has likewise remained tight-lipped, failing to back Sir Keir in the open.

It was previously reported that she was expected to be one of the top ministers demanding a timeline for the Prime Minister to vacate Downing Street.

Another silent member of Sir Keir's inner circle, environment secretary Ed Miliband, has also been tipped to run for his boss's job.

Mr Miliband, 56, has been said to be the preferred choice of MPs on the left of the governing party, and would likely run on a platform of accelerating his net-zero agenda.

Calls for the Prime Minister to step aside have only grown since the local elections last week saw Labour facing a bloodbath, with 1,500 councillors losing their seats.

Several MPs have laid the blame for the election disaster at the feet of No10, and opinion polling suggests the Labour Party is leaking votes to the Green Party and Reform UK.

The catastrophic set of results, which saw Sir Keir's party lose control of Wales - long considered a party stronghold - sparked panic on the backbenches.

Within hours Catherine West MP threatened to launch a leadership challenge of her own unless a Cabinet Minister beat her to it.

That opened a sluice gate of backbenchers demanding the PM hand in his notice, or set out a date by which he would do so.
And the calls only grew louder after the relatively unknown government minister, Miatta Fahnbulleh, broke cover, resigning from her plumb ministerial gig to urge Sir Keir to step aside.

Plotting parliamentarians were said to be worried Mr Streeting would be the first out the gates and pip Mr Burnham to the post before he could line up a seat for himself in Westminster.

The Manchester Mayor seems to have done a deal with former deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner - who is considered unlikely to run as questions around her tax affairs have yet to be resolved.

But infighting within Labour factions has already threatened to make any potential race a public slanging match.

John McDonnell, a Corbynite member of the left inside the party, slammed Mr Streeting as "Mandelson's protege" and claimed him becoming leader would be "a gift to Reform."

Just a handful of loyalist ministers have closed ranks around the Prime Minister, with Steve Reed, the housing secretary, urging mutinous colleagues to "unite behind the PM".

Darren Jones was sent out to defend the scandal riddled government as the crisis deepened.

But even he appeared unable to clearly state his boss was staying in the top job.

When asked if Sir Keir would lead him into the next election, Mr Jones told Sky News: "I'm not going to get ahead of any decision that the Prime Minister may or may not take."

Another Starmerite, Pat McFadden, told journalists that nobody had challenged his boss during the tense cabinet meeting.

A formal contest for Labour leader can be triggered when a single candidate gets 81 nominations from MPs.