A Labour MP has given leader Jeremy Corbyn a startling ultimatum as he bids to turn the party's fortunes around.

Jess Phillips, who holds the Birmingham Yardley seat, warned the beleaguered leader that she would not resort to plotting behind his back if he fails to make Labour strong in the next general election.

Ms Phillips said: "I won't knife you in the back - I'll knife you in the front."

The comments came in an interview with The Guardian in which Ms Phillips admitted she had confronted Mr Corbyn and his staff on the policy decisions that have caused so much division in the party.

“I frequently go up to him or his staff and say ‘what are you thinking’,” she was reported as saying. 

“I’ve berated him and his office about all the nonsense about de-selection, I go in and say you’ve got to stamp this out now, you’ve got the stop the infighting.”

When discussing Labour's chances of mounting a challenge at the next general election, she said: “I would do anything that I felt was going to make the Labour party win the next election because if I don’t have that attitude all I’m doing is colluding with the Tories.

“If that’s making Jeremy better I’ll roll my sleeves up.

“If that’s not going to happen - and I’ve said that to him and his staff to their faces - the day it comes that you are hurting us more than you are helping us, I won’t knife you in the back – I’ll knife you in the front.”