LABOUR leader Jeremy Corbyn was clinging on in the midst of an open revolt last night - in what one North-East MP described as a "co-ordinated effort" to oust him.

The region's MPs were divided over his future, with Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Tom Blenkinsop branding Corbyn as "singularly the worst leader Labour has after had" after saying: "It's time to take our Labour party back for the good of our party and our country."

Eight members of the shadow cabinet resigned yesterday after Mr Corbyn's decision to sack shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn, with up to half the top team rumoured to be ready to resign.

Shadow housing minister and Durham City MP Roberta Blackman-Woods was expected to make a statement about her position soon, but said yesterday (Sunday) about Mr Benn's sacking: "This is sad news indeed and I cannot understand how Jeremy thinks it will help his worsening position with the PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party)."

Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson said he believed Mr Corbyn was "not up to the job" and expressed anger at the fact the Labour leader had gone on holiday in the middle of the referendum campaign - the single most important vote the British people had taken in 70 years.

"The country is now in a very precarious situation and we need someone who can lead us through this – and I don't think Jeremy is that person," he said.

"The party is in turmoil, the right wing element of the Tory party is on the up, and Labour needs someone who is electable and has resonance with people, to reach out and persuade people we are relevant to them."

He said Mr Corbyn was out of touch, and the issues he focused on during the referendum campaign, such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, had not had any resonance with voters on the doorsteps.

But Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald, who stood side-by-side with Corbyn at a Middlesbrough Town Hall rally before the leader was elected last year, said: "I am very saddened at the resignations and I don't think that is the right way to go about challenging the leader.

"I think it makes life difficult for Her Majesty's Opposition to function properly and it is clearly a co-ordinated and concerted effort. It is disappointing.

"This is spoiling the party which is clearly very badly divided, a bit like the country and the Tory party.

"There is division everywhere, but what was needed by the country at the moment was a bit of stability."

Mr McDonald defended Mr Corbyn's Remain campaign, saying he campaigned hard, but the media had chosen to focus on the warfare within the Conservative Party which overshadowed the Labour leader's "analytical and factual" campaigning.

He said Labour MPs should remember the leader's huge mandate among the grassroots Labour Party members which got him elected.

And North West Durham MP Pat Glass also said she would not get involved in any leadership challenges.

"We have just come through the referendum," she said. "We need to take stock of what that means and I am more concerned with making sure that the North-East suffers as little damage as possible. Those areas which voted most heavily for leave were those who relied most heavily on European funding. That is what we should be trying to sort out now. I am not interested in any leadership challenges."

A motion of no confidence will be discussed at the next meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party today and if accepted, a secret ballot of Labour MPs could be held on Tuesday.

Mr Corbyn sacked the shadow foreign secretary Mr Benn"on the grounds that he has lost confidence in him".