A chaotic day of ups and downs in Westminster - but Keir Starmer hangs on for now
The Prime Minister came out fighting and had the backing of senior figures - but he also faced his first ministerial resignations.
It was a lovely, if a bit chilly, spring morning in central London.
The sun shone down on No10 as a gaggle buzzing journalists squeezed into a pen on the shady side of Downing Street, waiting for the most senior figures in the UK Government to come out of cabinet.
Expectations were high after dozens of Labour MPs had called for Sir Keir Starmer to resign as Prime Minister.
Many were government aides, including Scots Gordon McKee and Melanie Ward.
Miatta Fahnbulleh (not a household name) kept the frenzy going when she became the first junior minister to resign not long after 9am on Tuesday.
This was not unexpected, and not overwhelming, but suggested that the floodgates could open.
It then became clear that things would not be so easy for the rebels.
In a statement released by Downing Street, the Prime Minister told his cabinet that a leadership challenge “has not been triggered” and “the country expects us to get on with governing”.
The PM was going not going to quit. In fact, he would fight.
It then emerged that challenger Andy Burnham had been spotted on a train to London - and he apparently had a seat where an MP would stand aside to let him stand for the Commons.
Everyone on Downing Street was fizzing.
More chaos ensued as cabinet members came out of No10. Television journalists were on them like a rash, falling over each other as they tried to get them to speak in front of a camera.
Unusually, some of the Government's most senior figures duly obliged.
First up was Housing Secretary Steve Reed, a big ally of Sir Keir. He reiterated that there was a process for a leadership challenge and that the threshold had not been met.
Business Secretary Peter Kyle was next, he pointed out that “nothing has been triggered” and that the PM was showing “strong and steadfast leadership”. This was somewhat surprising given he is best pals with potential leadership challenger Wes Streeting.
Science Secretary Liz Kendall and Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden followed with statements of support.
The softly spoken Glaswegian Mr McFadden said no one had challenged the Prime Minister during cabinet.
All of these figures are on the Labour right - the same wing as Mr Streeting.
Then the moment came that everyone had been waiting for: the Health Secretary emerged from No10.
It was pretty underwhelming. He ignored journalists and walked in the other direction pretty briskly. Not what the pesky hacks had been after.
The public backing from four senior ministers made it seem like the Prime Minister had seized the momentum.
But the tables turned again as the biggest name so far quit from government.
Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips was particularly brutal. She criticised Sir Keir for not acting quickly enough to tackle online child sex abuse and said he had avoided arguments which left “opportunities for progress stalled and delayed”.
She was followed about 45 minutes later by victims minister Alex Davies-Jones. Both Ms Phillips and Ms Davies-Jones are seen as allies of Mr Streeting.
Westminster watchers waited in anticipation for the next big scalp, but it didn't come.
Scottish MP Zubir Ahmed later resigned as a health minister, but it was not the big name to turn the tide.
While the focus was on the 80 MPs calling for Sir Keir to go, roughly 100 MPs had signed a letter saying he should stay.
By late afternoon - during a day where most punters would have put money on the PM standing down - it seemed the Labour leader was staying in office.
One thing that may worry him, though, is how quiet Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has been.
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