'I'm flabbergasted, I have never seen this before,' says Sky's Beth Rigby

The Labour Party has a process for triggering a leadership election.That has not happened, so we all intend to get on with our jobs and that's what I'm going to do.

So, what we have there is Steve Reid walking out of...There we go.There's a bit of a sense of the chaos behind us.What we saw there was Steve Reid, Community Secretary, key ally of Keir Starmer, coming out.And here we have Lisa Nandy and James Murray.

What is your message?

So far, the key ally of Keir Starmer coming up, deciding to give a short statement to the cameras here and to Beth Rigby to say that he wants him to fight on, that there was a unity around the Prime Minister.Nobody else has given us any words yet, but of course, we are still waiting for Ed Miliband, we are still waiting for West Streeting, for some of the others to come from outside that door.I'm just going to stand up, which may look slightly It's very, I mean steep.I don't know if we want to do that.when people come down.

I don't know if the viewers also saw Robert Peston of ITV in frame.What happened there was really unusual.Steve Reid came out and said a statement to cameras.That never really happens after Cabinet.I have never known that to happen.You saw how he looked.

He looked furious.He came out and made a very brief statement, basically repeating what the Prime Minister had said, which is a leadership contest had not been triggered and they were getting on with it and the Prime Minister was staying on and then he stalked off, he looked furious.

He of course tweeted from within cabinet while it was going on as well, talking about the need to unite, talking about the disruption for the country if they turn on each other.I think the question that we're still trying to answer is, is Steve Rood reflective of the entire Cabinet?

No, and also, the question I was yelling at him, but I was tethered to a mic so I couldn't actually physically chase him, was what did the Cabinet say in response?And that's what we now need to hear.And others have subsequently come out.We've had David Lammy, John Healey.We've had Emma Reynolds.We've had Bridget Philipson coming out in pairs, chatting with each other, pretending we're all not here, when there's a bank of, like, 200 cameras.

but obviously Steve Reid dispatched there to be the Prime Minister's cheerleader -in -chief, if you like.Peter Kyle, would you speak to Sky News, sir?Would you come and speak to Sky News?I'm fine, how are you?

I'm very good, thank you.

How was Cabinet and what did everyone say when Keir Starmer said a leadership race had not been triggered?

Well, it's the fact.We've had a very purposeful Cabinet meeting, talking about the big issues facing our economy and society.Nothing has been triggered.I'm about to go off to Brussels to continue working with Brussels to deepen the relationship, to benefit Britain.We are working hard on the big issues that are facing the countryKeir is showing really steadfast leadership.

Well, the Prime Minister talked about the challenges we face as a country, the crisis in the Middle East, the impact on the cost of living here, and that this government will do what we were elected to do, which is serve the British people.The Prime Minister has my full support.Let me just say this, there is a process to challenge the leader.No one has made that challenge and what people would expect me to do is to focus on how we can grow the economy, tackle the cost of living and give them a better life.

coming out of here and arguing the Prime Minister's position effectively.What we haven't had the answer to, Beth's asked a lot, is whether or not anyone directly challenged him in that room.

Look, Pat McFadden, would you come and say a few words, sir?Pat, Pat, could you come and say a few words?Can you come and say a few words, sir?

How can the government carry on like this?

The Prime Minister's going to continue with his job, as he should, as the public will expect him to do.and I'm going to continue with my...

Pat, did anyone challenge him?

Did anyone challenge him around that table?Did anyone publicly challenge him around the table?

No, they didn't.They didn't.The Prime Minister made many statements of support for the job that he's doing, and that's what the public...Can he hang on?The Prime Minister wants to carry on with his job as he should, as the public will expect him to do.Thank you very much.

Thank you.that they wanted him to go.And he also said that there are lots of messages of support around the table.And this is really fascinating, because, Sophie, you can see what's happening.Yeah.They have lined up Cabinet ministers who are backing Keir Starmer to come out of the door and make statements on camera.

I've never seen this before.No, I have never seen this before.In all the time we've done it.Normally, they leg it, but they are choosing to come and make a statement.They're not really taking questions.But who have we had?

We've had Liz Kendall, the technology secretary.We've had Pat McFadden.Adam, Steve Reid and Peter Kyle.And Peter Kyle is interesting because he is Wes Streeting's best friend.So this is really fascinating.This is a cabinet fighting back, at least some of them.

But the question is, there are now 78 MPs that are saying that Keir Starmer needs to step down.But what he has done, at least, is corralled some of the cabinet and they are coming on camera to say that he should continue.

And we know that the Prime Minister kicked off cabinet by effectively throwing down the gauntlet, saying there's been low leadership challenge.Looking at people, I guess, like West Streeting, looking at people like Ed Miliband, others who might challenge him, potentially Shabana Mahmood, saying, look, What are you going to do about it?And then, as you say, this very organised, unusual show of support by members of the Cabinet as well.

I'll be honest, I'm a bit flabbergasted.I'm quite old now, and I've done this a long time.I've never seen this.I've never seen Cabinet Ministers come out after a Cabinet to publicly support the Prime Minister.And they're all with quite a similar message, which a leadership contest hasn't been triggered.We're getting on with the job.

We're talking about it.about substantive issues.The Prime Minister has my support.The most telling one for me is the thing that I thought I was going to have to make 100 phone calls on, which was what was happening around the table.Did anyone publicly challenge him?Pat McFadden clearly said when I asked him that, no, they did not.

Which tells me that if some people had gone into him privately, such as Shabana Mahmood, she did not say it in front of other colleagues.suggest to me, unless I hear otherwise from someone else, that Wes Streeting did not publicly challenge the PM.Anna, could you spare a word for Sky News, Anna?

My question now is, where is Ed Miliband, none of them have left yet, where are they?They might have gone round the back.If they have gone round the back, the more supportive people coming out here and making those statements to the cameras, people who we know would be potentially more problematic.

This was quite an asymmetrical battle yesterday in that what we had yesterday was a Prime Minister to come out fighting in the morning.And then what happened was there was this flow of resignations and it built up to the PPSs.And then we know that three cabinet ministers went in to speak to the Prime Minister.really that it was game over for him.

And now what we have seen this morning is that he is trying to fight back.

Now, it doesn't detract from the fact that there is a massive, massive rebellion against him, and there are scores of MPs saying he has got to stand down.What was interesting too, though, was that David Lammy didn't actually come over and say anything.And he was rigging MPs last night, trying to canvass support for the Prime Minister or just gauge through the party.And John Healey, who we know went intosee Keir Starmer last night, he did not say anything either.But clearly, he has got four cabinet ministers there that have come out on camera.

We might get some more.But that is the cabinet.I think what we can take from that is the cabinet is divided.Exactly, the cabinet is divided.

And what it may now take is a serious stalking horse candidate, or a serious contender, actually throwing their hat in the ring, having to go over the top to get those 81 MPs, because it doesn't look like what is almost certain, that Keir Starmer is not going to go unless that happens, right?He is not just going to listen to the men in grey suits and quietly slip off.

I think what we can now begin to say more confidently, because obviously these Cabinet meetings are closed meetings, you have the cabinet and then the officials sit around the edge, and there is a readout.Typically, cabinet meetings don't leak unless the government is in a bit of a bother, so maybe this one will leak quite a lot today.But I think what you saw there was the Prime Minister had a prepared statement, and then you probably had Liz Kendall, Peter Kyle, Pat McFadden coming out in support of Steve Reid, then reaffirming the Prime Minister's position.In that moment, those that perhaps don't agree maybe didn't say anything, but that doesn't mean that they are not going to move.They didn't move in there.Look, I was told last night the Prime Minister was weighing up his options.

You were told by Darren this morning...That he had a decision to make.That he had a decision to make.And at least now what we know 10 to 11 in the morning, is that his decision has been made, which is I'm carrying on until you lot drag me out of here.

As we've been talking, the number of MPs who have called for the Prime Minister to go has ticked up by one, Rebecca Long -Bailey, someone on the left.of the party very clearly, not a natural ally of Keir Starmer, but it has gone up to 79.It is not a majority yet, but 79 MPs publicly saying...It is terrible.It is difficult to see how you come back from that.

It is the famous phrase now, when the herd moves, it moves.It was Johnson you know, in his typical language, sort of reflecting on what happened to him and that he just couldn't stop the tide.Like, as much as he wanted, it washed over him and it pushed him out of Downing Street.It does feel, it felt very much like the herd was moving.He's got 79 MPs calling for him to go.Where he is being helped, is the fact that they are not unified around one candidate and they are divided.

And I guess the question is, someone who is definitely not a supporter of Westmeath Street and who is a backer of Andy Burnham was saying to me this morning, there might be 80 MPs or 79 MPs that are calling on the PM to go, but they are not unified behind one candidate.So that is the question, do they actually get to the point where they can trigger a race?But I also have to say, Sophie, that it feels honestly so far gone for Keir Starmer, that even if a race is not triggered immediately, or he continues a bit longer, it's really hard to see how he pulls it back from the place he's in.

It really is.And also, if we take it as almost a given that he won't lead Labour into the next election, then it does become a process or a thought of when it happens rather than if it happens, which is unbelievably destabilising for any leader, any Prime Minister.Yes.

Well, I think the thing for Keir Starmer is he's been in this de -stabilisationposition now for weeks.Really, this has been going on, I think really since the Mandelson files, really, when those documents were released showing some of the misjudgements made over the appointment...Lord Hermer, can you come and talk to Sky News?OK, that's Lord Hermer, who is...

Keir Starmer brought him in.He's a legal whiz, and he was a barrister with Keir Starmer, and they worked together, and they are very, very old friends.And Keir Starmer brought Lord Hermer into government so that he could be his attorney general, his most senior legal brain.And he is his closest ally.

That is his closest friend, although he didn't stop to talk.I will be honest, I will be interested when he doesn't do a morning round.It is interesting, just talking about the morning round, Darren Jones, who again is an ally of Keir Starmer, he is right in there with him, he is his chief of staff in some ways on the political side at least.I felt with that interview that the game was up.He kind of spoke with a sadness and yet the tone it feels has shifted even throughout the morning.

I mean I also think, I think Darren Jones had a really difficult...

Wes Streeting!Did you call on Stammer to resign?absolutely.So many people have been focused on this morning.We know from what Pat McFadden said to Beth that he did not directly challenge the Prime Minister at Cabinet.Whether or not he was

directly challenge him in the coming days, or even hours, I think remains to be seen, because the other thing that we don't know is Keir Starmer said, if you want me, you have to challenge...

I was told, though, and this was by a minister last night, that there are ministers that are preparing, as they put it to me, if the Cabinet won't do it, we will do it.