"The question now is whether Sir Keir leaves in a manner of his choosing or is dragged into a contest that would wound Labour and distract the country"

One Labour MP, who is usually considered to be a loyalist to the prime minister, said he believed Starmer would announce his departure date as soon as Monday.

'Since surviving a brush with political death over the Peter Mandelson scandal in February, Keir Starmer has struck a defiant tone - but the mood is shifting'