Labour moderates will break cover this week to demand Jeremy Corbyn wins the election or quits as leader, amid growing concern that he will claim a higher poll rating than Ed Miliband as a new mandate for his socialist agenda.
If Labour loses, those MPs left on June 9 will demand a formal inquiry, led by the party’s ruling National Executive Committee, to report to the party conference in the autumn.
To ensure the report finds against the leader, Labour candidates are keeping notes on every voter they meet who identifies as a lifelong Labour supporter but cannot back the party because of Corbyn.
The report could be used as the trigger for a bid to oust Corbyn. The moderates will attempt to change party rules to return to the old electoral college system of electing a leader. It gave far more power to MPs, most of whom oppose Corbyn.
In a separate move, the former cabinet minister Alan Milburn is joining forces with the businessman and philanthropist Clive Cowdery and two other City figures to set up a new group to oppose Brexit. It is seen by some old Blairites as a vessel that could be used by moderates too.
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Whether he wins or loses, Corbyn is expected to stay on as leader until the autumn but would not fight the next election.
Insiders say the shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, is being groomed as a possible replacement from the left after she performed better in the campaign than Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, who had also been tipped to take over from Corbyn.
In a bid to put moderates on the spot, some think Corbyn will ask former frontbenchers who quit last year to return to the shadow cabinet. It is understood that Hilary Benn, the former shadow foreign secretary, among others, would be ready to say yes.
Yet those still eyeing the leadership are unlikely to return. They include Yvette Cooper, Chuka Umunna and Stephen Kinnock. Others are looking to the shadow Brexit secretary, Sir Keir Starmer, or encouraging Lisa Nandy from the soft left to put themselves forward.
One plotter said: “The first thing is to ensure that Jeremy and his acolytes own the defeat. Anything less than victory is a failure.
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“[May] is a weak prime minister who has run a shambolic campaign, and after seven years in opposition we need to win.
“If Jeremy won’t go, then there will be a challenge.”
There is fury that Corbyn is neglecting working-class voters who backed Brexit in order to boost his vote share with students. Labour candidates were bemused that their manifesto — which included a £450bn spending spree — did not vow to end the freeze in benefits but did include a pledge to axe university tuition fees, which benefits middle-class families more than the poor.
“Jeremy has abandoned the working class to boost his support with students,” said one. “He thinks they’ll vote for him in the next leadership contest.”
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