LABOUR MPs last night called on Tony Blair to set a firm date for leaving No 10 in the wake of the party's local election drubbing and the dramatic sacking of Home Secretary Charles Clarke.

Backbenchers queued up to insist only a timetable for handing over power - in no more than a year - could restore the Government's authority after the disasters of recent weeks.

It was reported that a letter was being drawn up to be circulated for signature by up to 50 mainstream Labour MPs calling for an "early end date" to the Blair era.

And three North-East Labour MPs - Blaydon MP Dave Anderson and Newcastle MPs Doug Henderson and Nick Brown - stepped forward to urge the Prime Minister to set a date for leaving Downing Street.

Mr Anderson, who insisted he knew nothing about the letter, said: "Tony Blair should be talking to people about how he can go in an orderly way and that has to be within the next 12 months.

"I have not said this before, but people deserve to be told that. It is no use the Prime Minister staying until the eve of the next election."

Mr Brown, a former minister, said: "We can't drift on. It's pretty clear what's gone wrong and we need to address it."

And Mr Henderson said: "Quite frankly, Tony Blair has done his bit and it is now time for him to tell us when he is going to go."

But Frank Cook, Stockton North MP and a member of the left-wing Campaign group of MPs, said it would be lunacy for Mr Blair to set a date, saying that would "collapse the whole tent".

The first organised effort to unseat Mr Blair was revealed only hours after a sweeping Cabinet reshuffle that also saw scandal-hit Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott stripped of his department.

To everyone's surprise, Margaret Beckett was promoted from environment to foreign secretary, replacing Jack Straw, who was relegated to leader of the House of Commons.

Ruth Kelly was moved from education to community and local government secretary, but Patricia Hewitt clung on to her job as health secretary, despite the growing job losses in the NHS.

Hilary Armstrong, the Durham North MP, lost the post of chief whip, but stayed in the Cabinet as social exclusion minister, taking the title Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

The Prime Minister's spokesman said: "She has dealt with this issue before in her ministerial career, before she became chief whip, and has a passionate interest in it." Meanwhile, Redcar MP Vera Baird was made a junior minister in the Department for Constitutional Affairs - her first ministerial job.

There was immediate criticism that Mr Prescott, who will still chair key committees, will keep his country home and Whitehall flat - scene of his trysts with Tracey Temple.

Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said: "John Prescott loses his department, but keeps the trappings of office - including the car, the salary, and the two grace-and-favour homes."

Some at Westminster wondered whether the ousted Mr Clarke, who was replaced by John Reid, could become a dangerous backbench enemy, after he said he disagreed with the decision to sack him.

However publicly, the former home secretary, who refused to reveal which alternative jobs he had been offered, insisted he would remain a "strong supporter" of the Prime Minister.

Few were surprised at the decision to shift Ms Kelly, who is commonly thought to have struggled to win support for the creation of trust schools, aside from the row over paedophile teachers.

But there was astonishment at Mrs Beckett's promotion to Foreign Secretary.

At 63, she had been expected to make way for younger talent.

The sweeping Cabinet changes were instantly seen as Mr Blair's last throw of the dice to stay in Downing Street for a full third-term, following Thursday's poor election results.

The local elections saw Labour lose more than 300 council seats - mostly to David Cameron's resurgent Tories - as the party's share of the vote slumped to 26 per cent.

Although the result was not the meltdown many had predicted, some Labour MPs openly said they did not believe the party's fortunes could be revived under Mr Blair.

Another backbencher calling for Mr Blair to go, Graham Stringer, said activists would be astonished that Mr Clarke had been sacked only after they suffered the local election drubbing.

Only two days earlier, the Prime Minister insisted the Home Secretary was the right person to solve the crisis caused by the failure to deport dangerous foreign criminals.

Some saw the promotion of prominent Blairites Hazel Blears and Jacqui Smith to key Cabinet posts as the Prime Minister's statement that he has no intention of quitting No 10.

Chancellor Gordon Brown - who described the terrible results as a warning shot - dropped heavy hints that he had not been consulted in advance about the changes.

Mr Blair announced he was bringing forward his monthly conference to Monday, when he must also address his restless troops at a meeting of the Parliamentary party.