The walkouts from Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet look likely to continue along with the departure of a “large number” of junior ministers, Chris Bryant has warned.
The former shadow Commons leader was one of 11 MPs to quit Mr Corbyn’s top team on Sunday after the Labour leader sacked shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn.
Despite the mass walkout Mr Corbyn remained defiant, insisting he would not “betray” the Labour members who elected him last September by stepping down.
Discussing possible further departures on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Mr Bryant said: “I think there will be some more members of the shadow cabinet and I think there will be large numbers of the junior ministers as well.”
He said reports that up to 30 senior Labour figures may walk in the end “may well be true”.
As he resigned on Sunday, Mr Bryant warned Mr Corbyn that he was in danger of going down in history as “the man who broke the Labour Party”.
Mr Corbyn is digging in for a bitter Westminster war of attrition with hostile Labour MPs as he banks on grass roots supporters saving his leadership of the party.
On Sunday he 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 regret there have been resignations today from my shadow cabinet. But 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.”
The flurry of resignations saw the party’s deputy leader Tom Watson insist he would “discuss the way forward” with Mr Corbyn at a face to face meeting after a day of high drama at Westminster saw a third of Labour’s top team quit.
Prominent backbench MP Stephen Kinnock insisted Mr Corbyn would cost the party 60 seats at a possible snap autumn general election.
“I think there’s a real risk that if we go into a general election before the end of this year with Jeremy as our leader we will lose somewhere between 30 and 60 trusted and valued colleagues,” he told BBC Radio Four’s The Westminster Hour.
As the crisis unfolded, Mr Corbyn met shadow chancellor John McDonnell, election co-ordinator Jon Trickett, and strategy director Seamus Milne, to discuss the mass resignations.
A source close to shadow business secretary Angela Eagle, who has not resigned, said: “She is heartbroken about the position in which the party finds itself and desperately worried we’re failing to connect with communities across the country.”
A series of senior trade unionists on Labour’s ruling national executive committee rallied in support of Mr Corbyn – including Unite leader Len McCluskey and Dave Ward of the Communication Workers Union.
And leadership loser and shadow home secretary Andy Burnham refused to take part in any attempt to unseat Mr Corbyn.
However Mr Corbyn now faces a vote of no confidence which will be discussed at the weekly meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party at Westminster on Monday with a secret ballot of MPs expected on Tuesday.
The move is symbolic but a stalking horse candidate may emerge, or there could be a full blown challenge.
Mr McDonnell insisted loyalists were ready for a two month leadership battle as he warned would-be opponents that a 200,000 signature petition supporting Mr Corbyn proved how popular he remained with party members who have the ultimate say.
