A no-confidence motion, tabled last week by two MPs, was to be discussed at a meeting of Labour lawmakers.
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Eagle also revealed that she had texted Corbyn on Sunday about the turmoil in the party, but had received no response.
“You are not the right person to lead the party”, shadow business secretary Angela Eagle, the most senior Labour figure to desert Corbyn, wrote in her resignation letter, posted on Twitter. “You have lost the confidence of colleagues, and you have struggled to win the confidence of our voters and the wider public”.
Barry Gardiner, who was promoted to Mr Cornbyn’s shadow cabinet earlier in the day after the stream of resignations, made a plea for loyalty to the leader, but fellow MPs barracked him, shouting: “Shame!”
In one of the biggest moves, former shadow defence secretary Emily Thornberry will replace Mr Benn, who was sacked as shadow foreign secretary in the early hours of Sunday morning. Diane Abbott was appointed health spokeswoman to replace Heidi Alexander, who resigned. Mr Corbyn’s own advisers privately admit that they expect him to lose the vote, which is then likely to set off a leadership contest – but they insist that Mr Corbyn will not resign, and will run for re-election if challenged.
The Labour MP left the meeting before it finished.
After a stinging election defeat for Labour a year ago, Corbyn won the leadership thanks to overwhelming support from grassroots members. “There is no truth in rumours that Caroline has been offered a position in the Shadow Cabinet”, he said in a statement.
Several Labour MPs have cited the possibility of a general election in the next six months – following on from the election of a new Conservative leader – as the reason why Mr Corbyn must now consider his position.
The result of the no-confidence vote, due after 4 p.m. on Tuesday, is advisory only. “I’m really glad that the shadow cabinet has been ruthless because we’ve gone on too long thinking we never get rid of leaders”, he said.
“Too many of our supporters were taken in by right-wing arguments and I believe this happened, in part, because under your leadership the case to remain in the European Union was made with half-hearted ambivalence rather than full-throated clarity”, shadow business secretary Angela Eagle wrote in a resignation letter that she later posted on Twitter. In a joint statement, Nandy and Smith both called for Deputy Leader Tom Watson to take over as a “caretaker leader”. “No whispering, no corridor coups, get out in the country, let’s test who the members want to be the leader of the Labour Party”.
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Hundreds gathered at the base of Grey’s Monument on Monday night to show their support for Mr Corbyn, who has faced daggers from all corners of the Parliamentary Labour Party PLP in recent days.
