Sir Keir Starmer is considering whether to resign, a Cabinet minister has said.
Business Secretary Peter Kyle said the Prime Minister was “reflecting on the political realities, challenges, and opportunities that he finds himself in”.
With a growing number of Labour MPs calling on Sir Keir to set out an “exit plan” from No10, Mr Kyle told how he had spoken to the PM on Friday and that he was determined to put the country ahead of any personal interest.
Mr Kyle’s comments came amid reports that the Prime Minister could make a resignation statement, laying out a timetable for his departure, as early as Monday following Andy Burnham’s by-election victory.
Mr Burnham’s win in Makerfield on Thursday raises the prospect of an imminent Labour leadership challenge and puts huge pressure on Sir Keir.
The PM has repeatedly vowed not to walk away from his post amid weeks of speculation that Mr Burnham could seek to topple him.
But he faces a daunting series of challenges this week, with a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party on Monday, having to chair Cabinet on Tuesday and then PMQs on Wednesday.
Mr Kyle had a “frank” conversation with the PM on Friday, with Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander reported to have already told him to set out a timetable for his departure.
The Business Secretary told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips : “He has been engaging in conversations with a wide range of people, including myself, and that he is, as well as working really hard over this weekend, I think he is making time to reflect on the political realities, challenges, and opportunities that he finds himself in.”
Downing Street was insisting that the Prime Minister will fight any leadership contest.
But Mr Kyle declined to repeat this line, telling the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “These are decisions for Keir to make.”
He added that there was a “process underway” with people challenging the PM.
Papers including the Telegraph and the Observer were reporting that the Prime Minister has accepted he no longer has the support of enough MPs to remain in office and could resign or set out a timetable for his departure this week.
The number of Labour MPs calling for Starmer to go has risen above 100, around a quarter of the party’s MPs, including some who signed a letter warning against a leadership contest just last month.
Labour grandees have also spoken out, with former home secretary Alan Johnson saying Sir Keir should step aside and Lord Falconer saying he has “no authority” because it is assumed he will be replaced.
The Prime Minister is understood to be at Chequers with his wife, Lady Victoria, this weekend, and is reportedly reflecting on how to proceed.
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A senior ally told the Sun they believe there is “just a 25 per cent chance he fights on now”.
The Observer cited a Labour peer who said they think Sir Keir sees that “stopping ‘chaos’ (as he rightly put it) is now not possible by staying” and senior Labour figures who believe a “clear statement” could come as early as Monday.
A Starmer loyalist also said they expect him to announce his departure as early as Monday as support among his own MPs has dwindled to a small number of “friends and family”, according to the Telegraph.
Sir Keir warned Labour staffers during a call on Friday lunchtime to avoid “plunging our party and our country into chaos by turning on each other and tearing apart our party and our movement”.
He is understood to have spoken to a number of Cabinet ministers on Friday.
Some in Westminster believe a contest could begin as early as next week, but allies of Mr Burnham favour a longer wait to allow them to prepare for government.
It is understood that Mr Burnham’s camp wants Sir Keir to set out his plans in the coming days but would accept a timetable that kept him in No10 for a few weeks, or possibly until September.
The incoming Makerfield MP is expected to be in Westminster on Monday to be sworn into the Commons.
He is reportedly planning to speak to Sir Keir afterwards and present him with a list of backers – which he is said to be seeking to get up to 200 – in a bid to press him to step down and set out a transition.
In a blow to Sir Keir, Labour peer Charlie Falconer said Sir Keir has “absolutely no authority” because “everybody assumes” Mr Burnham is going to challenge him and win.
He said he would advise Sir Keir not to stand in a leadership contest and instead agree a handover, preferably before the parliamentary recess on July 16.
And former deputy leader Baroness Harriet Harman, who Sir Keir appointed as a special envoy for women and girls, said there is a “sense of collective movement” from within Labour and that she expected Sir Keir to leave office and for Mr Burnham to take his place.
She has urged the party to move faster than aiming for a timetable ending in September, telling Sky News’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast ministers could not be left “in a state of paralysis all through the summer”.