Keir Starmer was facing a humiliating threat to his authority last night as Labour's benefits rebellion continued to grow.
Labour MPs brushed aside pressure from Downing Street and threats from party whips to demand that plans to trim £5billion from the welfare budget are dumped before a crunch vote next Tuesday.
Ministers were stunned by the scale of the rebellion, with 108 MPs signing an amendment that would kill off the legislation needed to implement the cuts.
But, despite increasingly frantic lobbying from ministers, the scale of the rebellion continued to build, with sources claiming that another 19 MPs had signed up yesterday.
The scale of the rebellion is more than enough to wipe out Sir Keir's landslide majority of 156 if MPs follow through and vote against the Government.
