McDonnell Spearheads Fightback By Corbyn Camp

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell will spearhead a fightback by Jeremy Corbyn's camp today, setting out the party's economic response to Brexit.

Mr Corbyn, who has been accused of not campaigning hard enough to stay in the EU, has vowed to stay on as Labour leader despite a mass revolt by his party's MPs.

He has repeatedly said he won an overwhelming mandate from 60% of Labour members in the 2015 leadership election and stepping down would "betray them".

But a YouGov poll for The Times suggests that although he might win a leadership contest, his previously rock-solid support in the party may be ebbing away.

The survey of 1,203 Labour members, carried out between Monday and Thursday, found 50% of Labour members would vote for Mr Corbyn but 47% would not - down from the 64%-33% lead in May.

Despite the mayhem within the Labour ranks in Westminster, 51% of the party's members believed Mr Corbyn was doing well, with 48% saying he was doing badly.

Angela Eagle, who was the most senior member of the shadow cabinet to quit, is delaying her expected leadership challenge to Mr Corbyn.

The former shadow business secretary had been expected to declare that she was going to run as a "unity candidate" at a news conference on Thursday afternoon.

The YouGov poll indicated that Mr Corbyn would beat Ms Eagle by 50% to 40% if they went head to head.

Sky sources say there is some concern among Labour MPs about Ms Eagle's voting record on supporting the Iraq war and airstrikes in Syria, ahead of the release of the Chilcot report next week.

Some support is understood to have been building around Owen Smith, who resigned as shadow work and pensions secretary, as an alternative candidate.

Sky's Darren McCaffrey said that he has been told MPs will now make the decision about who will run against Mr Corbyn on Monday.

Both factions in the party have been active on social media trying to recruit members to vote in a contest to either support or oppose Mr Corbyn.

Mr Corbyn attempted to show it was business as usual by holding a news conference on the findings of an inquiry into anti-Semitism in the party on Thursday.

But the event did little to strengthen his beleaguered leadership, fuelling calls for him to quit and sparking anger among the Jewish community.

Labour MP Ruth Smeeth stormed out after one of Mr Corbyn's supporters launched a verbal assault on her during a question and answer session.

She later accused Mr Corbyn of a "catastrophic failure of leadership" for not standing up for her and called for his immediate resignation.