JEREMY Corbyn has suffered a crushing blow as Labour MPs joined together to pass a vote of no confidence against him.
A staggering 172 of Labour's 229 MPs reportedly backed calls for him to be removed from the position he has held for just nine months, with just 40 opposed.
Now Deputy Leader Tom Watson and ex-shadow Business Secretary Angela Eagle are apparently locked in talks to decide who will stand against him as the next leader.
Yet already the defiant Mr Corbyn has pledged that he will not stand down, saying that to do so would be a betrayal of the party supporters who elected him.
Rumours are circulating that Mr Watson, who earlier this week warned Mr Corbyn that he lost the support of the Parliamentary Labour Party, will step up to the plate.
While others have said that neither will announce a leadership challenge tonight, instead giving the leader 24 hours to consider his position.
The vote was sparked on Friday by MP Margaret Hodge, who said most Labour politicians and voters had lost faith in him after a lacklustre referendum Remain campaign.
This no confidence vote comes after two days in which the party was rocked by a series of resignations that saw 45 cabinet ministers and frontbench MPs quit their roles.
He looked glum as footage emerged of what could possibly be his final shadow cabinet meeting.
Corbyn was unsure about whether the camera should remain in the room – consulting with his spin doctor Seamus Milne.
The camera was turned off at the Islington North MP's request – but journalists were allowed to stay in the room.
However the camera was briefly switch back on and the members of the members of the cabinet had moved around – notably Tom Watson who had spent the weekend raving at Glastonbury while Labour imploded.
And even after the change of seats – the faces looked even more depressed.
The sorry state of affairs within the Labour party started on Saturday night when Mr Corbyn sacked shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn in a midnight phone call.
Mr Benn contacted the Labour leader to tell him he had lost faith in his ability to govern the party.
On Sunday, shadow secretary for health Heidi Alexander then set the ball rolling when she quit, followed by more than 40 senior MPs over the next 48 hours.
Mr Corbyn was then forced into a mad scramble to fill key shadow government positions – picking many new MPs who are fiercely loyal to him.
His new shadow defence secretary, Clive Lewis, even missed his debut Commons performance because he was at Glastonbury Festival.
Last night, Jeremy Corbyn remained defiant while addressing a rally of 10,000 of his supporters in Westminster.
Although he didn't mention the leadership crisis, it was clear he was shoring up his support among party members who were responsible for voting him into the position.
But reports from sources over the past few days suggest their was a plot to oust Corbyn months ago.
Advisers within the party had been leaking information to journalists, saying they planned on getting rid of him despite his overwhelming grassroots support.
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