It was meant to be an exercise in rallying the troops before a battle with Andy Burnham.
But Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet ring-round on Friday instead left the Prime Minister barely counting on one hand the number of senior ministers he could still rely on to back him.
A government source told the Telegraph: “Keir spent Friday reaching out to a select group of cabinet ministers. He was reaching out to people who perhaps two months ago he thought were locked in but could now potentially be wavering.”
Perhaps he was hoping to see a repeat of what happened in February, when Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, urged him to quit.
In response, cabinet ministers publicly rallied behind the Prime Minister and declared their support for their embattled leader.
But this time, when he needed it most, the support was not forthcoming. A source told the Telegraph: “More cabinet ministers than not told him that he needs to set out a timetable.”
Among them was Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, who urged Starmer to announce a timeline for his departure. Yvette Cooper, the Foreign Secretary, also pressed him to resign.
Jonathan Reynolds, the chief whip, is understood to have told the Labour leader that there are growing demands from his party’s MPs for an orderly transition of power.
Meanwhile, Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, and Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, have previously told Starmer that he needs to step down.
The government source added: “As a result of the list of names and the wobbly ring-round, Keir will realise the game is up and the next few days will be about shoring up his legacy.”
Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, is now one of few senior cabinet ministers still vocally expressing her unequivocal support for the Prime Minister, despite mounting opposition to his premiership.
Starmer spent the weekend with his family, trying to decide whether he has enough support to fight on. But even his closest allies are suggesting he is on the brink and is slowly coming round to the idea that the “game is up”.
Over the weekend, Downing Street was still publicly insisting that Starmer would stay on and fight any leadership contest.
One Starmer-loyalist MP said: “It feels like momentum behind Andy is very strong right now. I think if Keir held firm, there is a fair chance that Andy would implode and at best would arrive at the finish line much damaged and possibly that Keir would actually win.”
Another Starmer ally added: “Keir is going to try to stay on. No one asked for this in the local elections, and it’s unsightly and unnecessary, frankly.”
Among the Prime Minister’s vocal backers is Dale Vince, the green energy tycoon and Labour donor, who opened the door to funding a Starmer fightback campaign.
When asked whether he had contributed to Starmer’s leadership contest campaign fund, which is believed to be around six figures, he said: “I’ve not been involved [financially] at this point, but there is no contest yet, so you know the honest answer is I have not been involved. But it’s not to say I won’t be, you know, if the contest begins next week.
“But what I really want to see there is a good discussion, a good debate on policy, and I don’t think either [of the main contenders] needs a huge sum of money to do that.”
The Ecotricity founder, who has donated £6m ($13.8m) to the Labour Party since 2013 via his business, added: “It’s right that we hear a kind of battle of ideas rather than we have a coronation or a coup.
“I don’t think Keir should stand aside. I think he should make his own platform clear.
“Andy should make his platform clear because otherwise there’s a danger he becomes Prime Minister and no one really knows what he proposes to do.
“I don’t think it would be good for the country for Keir to just step aside, I think we all need to hear what both of them would do as leaders of our country.”
Vince continued: “I know them both well. I respect them both. Actually, I think they’ve both got a lot to offer.
“I welcome the moment, the chance now for clarity for the laying out programmes of Government.
“I don’t think it needs to be divisive. I don’t think it needs to be a war of words, just a battle of ideas that can be done politely and with respect.”
One undecided backbench Labour MP added: “There is a real mix of views. Burnham has not been in Westminster for a decade.
“He has lots of relationships to build. And some in the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party] are frustrated by the idea that Josh Simons could soon be back in the halls of power.”
Regarding the idea of Starmer staying in power, the MP added: “There’s a small, vocal minority that say Starmer should continue.”
This collapse in support for the Prime Minister comes amid new polling which shows that around 55% of the electorate say Starmer should resign as Labour leader compared with 25% of voters who believe he should stay in post.
The survey by Opinium, which polled more than 2000 adults, also found that Starmer has a net popularity rating of -42.
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