The Labour party remained gripped by crisis last night with embattled Jeremy Corbyn facing a leadership challenge following a string of resignations from his shadow cabinet.
But with his team disintegrating around him and his authority in tatters, the Islington MP vowed to fight on regardless.
He remained defiant as Scottish Labour’s deputy leader Alex Rowley praised Nicola Sturgeon for leading “by example” while the Westminster parties were “imploding”.
Mr Corbyn insisted he would not “betray” those members who had elected him in September.
He also criticised “internal faction manoeuvring” when responding to David Cameron’s EU statement in the Commons yesterday, prompting hysterical laughter from both sets of benches.
Just days after announcing his own resignation, the prime minister could not resist a dig at his opposite number, declaring: “I thought I was having a bad day.”
He also suggested newly-elected Labour MP for Tooting Rosena Allin-Khan keep her mobile phone on, joking she might find herself in a shadow post by the end of the day.
As his shadow ministers dropped like flies after the sacking of Hilary Benn, Mr Corbyn sought to replace them with allies, mostly from the 2015 intake.
But he was struggling to fill the post of shadow Scottish secretary last night following the resignation of Ian Murray on Sunday, Labour’s only MP north of the border.
Mr Corbyn was also forced to bat away an accusation by former home secretary Alan Johnson – who ran Labour’s campaign for a Remain vote in the referendum – that his office had undermined the effort.
Pledging not to go quietly, Mr Corbyn, who is facing a vote on a no confidence motion today said: “I was elected by hundreds of thousands of Labour party members and supporters with an overwhelming mandate for a different kind of politics.
“I am not going to betray the trust of those who voted for me – or the millions of supporters across the country who need Labour to represent them.
“Those who want to change Labour’s leadership will have to stand in a democratic election, in which I will be a candidate.”
His office made clear that he would fight any contest and insisted he would automatically be on the ballot, without requiring the nominations of MPs.
Last night, as the parliamentary Labour party met inside the Westminster Parliament, thousands of Corbyn supporters took to Parliament Square outside in protest at the moves against him.
