A defiant Jeremy Corbyn finalised his new shadow cabinet just hours after talks with the leader of the UK’s biggest union some MPs hoped could persuade him to resign.
Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, met both the Labour leader and his deputy , Tom Watson, who is pushing for him to stand down.
Afterwards both sides suggested that the Unite boss was considering “the lay of the land”.
Many Labour MPs are increasingly pessimistic that Mr Corbyn will ever be persuaded to go.
But they feel they cannot afford to rule out a scenario that would avoid the risk of Mr Corbyn solidifying his position by winning a leadership contest.
Labour MPs are adamant that that they cannot go forward with Mr Corbyn in charge.
Accusations that he fronted a half-hearted EU referendum campaign led more than 50 members of his shadow cabinet to walk out last week.
Behind the scenes, two of those tipped to try to take over, Angela Eagle and Owen Smith, are battling it out to be the 'unity' candidate.
Mr McCluskey has suggested that the unions could broker a peace deal in the deeply divided party.
The Unite leader said at the weekend that unions could act as "honest brokers" between the different factions.
Mr Watson told MPs that talks with them would be the "last throw of the dice" in efforts to persuade Mr Corbyn to stand down.
On Monday Mr Watson told Mr Corbyn he could not carry on as party leader without the backing of the party's MPs.
Last week they voted overwhelmingly that they had no confidence in his leadership.
But on Monday night the weekly meeting of Labour MPs were told Mr Corbyn would not walk.
His team insist that he is going nowhere.
They say those who want to get rid of him can stand against him in a leadership challenge.
John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor and a key Corbyn ally, addressed a National Union of Teachers rally outside Parliament to insist that Mr Corbyn would not resign.
A former Labour MP Alice Mahon also branded the campaign against Mr Corbyn "cruel".
"Jeremy is not a failure. This turning on him, at a time when the Tories are in such disarray, I think it's cruel and it's shameful," she told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
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