“We then recommend that the process of electing a new leader of the Conservative Party should commence next week – with the beginning of any necessary parliamentary ballots – and conclude no later than Friday September 2, although an earlier conclusion may be possible”, Mr Brady said.
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Prominent referendum opponents within his own party however, including Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, were among 84 Tory MPs who signed a letter backing him to stay in Number 10.
Outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron faced increasing pressure to speed up “divorce” talks with the EU as Brussels made it clear it wants the United Kingdom out of the union as soon as possible.
Shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander was the first member of Mr Corbyn’s top team to quit over the dismissal.
With ex-London mayor Boris Johnson firm favourite to succeed Mr Cameron at the Tory helm, Labour’s Ken Livingstone attacked media “obsession” with the pair, which he said drowned out the real issues in the debate.
Corbyn, who won the Labour leadership past year thanks to grassroots support, much of it from young voters, is deeply unpopular with many MPs.
Former shadow minister Tristram Hunt told BBC Newsnight he was “not convinced” Mr Corbyn had the abilities to press the Labour cause in the looming negotiations with the European Union on withdrawal.
He said: “The good thing for the Conservatives is that there is lots of talent in the party”.
Other potential candidates made pointed interventions, with Education Secretary Nicky Morgan warning in The Sunday Times that a Brexiteer-style tough stance on immigration would see the party thrown back into the “wilderness” if it went back to an “ideological comfort zone” in order to “appease the noisy fringes”. He had campaigned for a “Remain” victory.
There were also reports of a leadership challenge brewing against Corbyn.
With the race for the Tory crown expected to move up a gear this week, with the backbench 1922 committee set to outline the timetable for the contest, allies of Chancellor George Osborne moved to dismiss claims he was attempting to change party rules in a bid to damage Mr Johnson’s chances.
With the European Union growing increasingly impatient with Mr Cameron’s instance to leave Brexit talks to his successor, French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault suggested he could be replaced in Number 10 within days.
Asked if believed the next leader could be someone who campaigned for Remain, Mr Osborne said: “Absolutely”.
At an emergency meeting in Westminster, it agreed unanimously that the contest should be run under the same rules as 2005, which will see MPs pick two candidates to put to the wider membership.
John Mann, a pro-Brexit Labour MP, said he was “out of touch” with traditional working-class Labour voters who were “sick to death” with his policies.
He said the new leader would have to be “somebody who has spelt out an agenda which the key Leave campaigners accept and can work with”.
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Islam said: “Around that Cabinet table now there are people who think that they could be the new prime minister”.
