Angela Eagle to challenge Jeremy Corbyn in Labour leadership contest after attempts to get him to quit failed
Former shadow business secretary is said to be preparing to run as a 'unity' candidate
LABOUR leader Jeremy Corbyn is set to face a leadership challenge from Angela Eagle after MPs failed to persuade him to stand down.
The former shadow business secretary Angela Eagle will announce her intentions tomorrow amid reports she is preparing to run as a "unity" candidate.
Deputy leader Tom Watson said the party was heading towards a full-blown leadership contest after Mr Corbyn had refused even to discuss some form of "negotiated settlement" following yesterday’s unprecedented vote of no confidence by Labour MPs.
They voted by 172 to 40 against his leadership in an astonishing rebellion.
It means more than 80 per cent of Labour MPs say they have no confidence in their leader, with a turnout of 95 per cent.
Mr Watson who had faced calls to stand ruled himself out as a challenger and spent today trying to convince the veteran leftie to stand aside.
He told BBC News: "My party is in peril, we are facing an existential crisis and I just don't want us to be in this position because I think there are millions of people in this country who need a left-leaning government."
His intervention came after former leaders Ed Miliband, Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman all joined calls for Mr Corbyn to quit while even David Cameron said he should stand down in the national interest.
Mr Corbyn suffered the indignity of further shadow cabinet resignations, with shadow education secretary Pat Glass quitting just two days after being appointed to the post saying the situation was "untenable".
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The Labour leader, however, remained defiant, with a spokesman saying: "Jeremy Corbyn is determined to carry on with the job he was democratically elected to do."
Mr Watson blamed hard left shadow chancellor John McDonnell for refusing to allow Mr Corbyn to resign.
"I went to see Jeremy today to see whether we could find a way of getting a negotiated settlement but he was unwilling to move from the position he is in.
“We are still in an impasse.
"He has obviously been told to stay by his close ally John McDonnell. They are a team and they have decided they are going to tough this out.
“So it looks like the Labour party is heading for some kind of contested election."
Mr McDonnell dismissed the claim as "ludicrous" and indicated that he was confident that Mr Corbyn would see off any challenge to his leadership.
"He is buoyant, he is campaigning, he is doing his work here. He is not going anywhere," he told Sky News.
"If there is a contest he will be standing again. I think Jeremy could win it again".
