Jeremy Corbyn faces building pressure to quit the Labour leadership, as Brussels unleashes a backlash against David Cameron's slow-motion EU exit plan.
Pro-Leave Labour MP and former minister Frank Field was the latest senior figure to break ranks and pour public scorn on Mr Corbyn's leadership abilities.
With the financial consequences of Brexit causing increasing concern as influential credit rating agency Moody's downgraded the UK's outlook to "negative", EU leaders hardened their stance to force Britain out of the union as fast as possible, while the White House insisted President Barack Obama stood by his controversial warning that London would be at the back of the queue for any trade deals.
Westminster speculation that Mr Corbyn could use a speech on the aftermath of the referendum to announce his resignation was denied by Labour, despite many of the party's pro-Remain MPs expressing despair at what they see as his lacklustre performance in the campaign, ahead of a no confidence vote against him next week.
Mr Field said the Labour leader grasped voters' concern about globalisation, but drowned this out with "clap-trap", and could never win a possible snap general election in the autumn.
Read more: Labour MPs table no confidence motion in Jeremy Corbyn
"He clearly isn't the right person to actually lead the party into an election because nobody thinks he will actually win. We clearly need somebody who the public think of as an alternative prime minister," Mr Field told BBC Radio Four's Today programme.
Moody's downgraded prospects for the UK economy because Brexit heralds "a prolonged period of uncertainty", saying it would have implications for the country's medium-term growth.
The move came as Brussels ratcheted up the pressure on Mr Cameron to abandon his stance of not opening exit negotiations until he formally hands over to power to his successor by October.
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker insisted it was "not an amicable divorce", before adding sharply that it was never "a tight love affair anyway".
"Britons decided that they want to leave the European Union, so it doesn't make any sense to wait until October to try to negotiate the terms of their departure - I would like to get started immediately," he said.
The comments came as a prominent Leave advocate, Tory MEP Daniel Hannan, came under fire for saying a post-Brexit Britain could still join the single market with its free movement of labour rules.
Mr Hannan claimed this was not a backtrack on campaign promises as he insisted the Leave side had promised to control immigration, not end it.
However, Tory former chancellor Ken Clarke warned against a lurch to right-wing nationalism in the party as he attacked Ukip immigration policies.
As the shockwaves from the 52% to 48% Brexit win continued to reverberate, Tory Remain backers were getting behind Home Secretary Theresa May as the best placed candidate for a leadership battle with ex-London mayor Boris Johnson.
Scotland's SNP government was also launching a diplomatic offensive on the continent to remind EU chiefs that Scots voted overwhelmingly to stay in the bloc.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has made it clear she intends to use the referendum results to try to force a second independence vote when the negotiating situation becomes clearer.
Britain's new status in the departure lounge of the EU was underlined by the exclusion of Mr Cameron from a meeting of the other 27 leaders next Wednesday to discuss the implications of Brexit.
Under the Lisbon Treaty, London has the right to decide when it triggers Article 50, which begins the two-year exit negotiation period.
Former Liberal Democrat leader Lord (Menzies) Campbell said EU nations could be expected to put their own interests over those of a departing Britain.
'If we are to have a soft landing, the irony is that we shall have to rely on the goodwill and understanding of the remaining members of the European Union, from whom we wish to divorce ourselves," he said.
"We should not be surprised if they choose to put their interests above ours."
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