Clive Lewis, MP for Norwich South, said his fellow Labour MPs were feeling ‘concerned, slightly downtrodden, a little bit browbeaten’.
Sir Keir Starmer is under growing pressure as his handling of Lord Mandelson’s sacking over ties to Jeffrey Epstein has laid bare tensions with Labour MPs.
The Prime Minister withdrew Lord Mandelson as his ambassador to the US on Thursday after emails emerged in which the peer offered support to Epstein even as he faced jail for sexual offences.
It came less than a week after Angela Rayner was forced to resign from the Cabinet and as deputy prime minister over her tax affairs, sparking a reshuffle.
One backbencher publicly questioned Sir Keir’s leadership, saying the Prime Minister does not seem “up to the job”.
Another said that “toxic” resentment was festering among the party’s MPs and rank and file members.
Lucy Powell, one of two candidates in the race to take Ms Rayner’s place as the Labour party’s deputy leader – called for a “change of culture”.
Clive Lewis, MP for Norwich South, said his fellow Labour MPs were feeling “concerned, slightly downtrodden, a little bit browbeaten” and that there was a “very dangerous atmosphere” in the parliamentary Labour party.
He told the BBC’s The Week In Westminster programme: “You see a Labour Prime Minister who feels that he’s lost control within the first year.
“This isn’t navel-gazing. This is me thinking about my constituents, this country, and the fact that the person who is eight points ahead of us is Nigel Farage. That terrifies me. It terrifies my constituents, and it terrifies a lot of people in this country.
“We don’t have the luxury of carrying on this way with someone who I think increasingly, I’m sorry to say, just doesn’t seem up to the job.”
Mr Lewis said the Cabinet reshuffle that came after Ms Rayner’s departure was “deeply unpopular” among many backbench MPs and that “the party feels very narrow in terms of the political outlook from the right of the party”.
“I think we’re feeling left out, I think we’re feeling alienated, marginalised and that needs to change because it’s a very, very dangerous atmosphere in the PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party) at the moment,” he said.
Barry Gardiner, MP for Brent North, said his party colleagues were frustrated over “a series of what people regard as political slip-ups”.
“People are saying, look, the leadership needs to listen to backbench MPs and to party members. And a command and control structure simply will not work,” he told BBC Newsnight.
He warned the party is “splitting into factions” and that both MPs and party members are unhappy with the “top-down approach”.
He said an atmosphere of “resentment that’s being built up and that is toxic” has to be dealt with in an “open listening approach”.
Ms Powell, who lost her post as Commons leader in last week’s reshuffle, told The Guardian: “We need some change, and we do need a change of culture, especially how we’re going about making decisions, and how we’re going about including people.”
She added: “We’ve got a bit of a groupthink happening at the top, that culture of not being receptive to interrogation, not being receptive to differing views.”
Some MPs, including several suspended from Labour after voting against the Government’s welfare plans earlier this year, have called for the Labour whip to be removed from Lord Mandelson so he can no longer sit as a peer for the party.
However, his role as ambassador to the US meant he was on a leave of absence from the Lords and does not technically have the Labour whip.
Three months’ notice must be given to end the leave of absence.
Sir Keir’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney was reported to have lobbied for Lord Mandelson’s initial appointment.
One Labour backbencher suggested the Mandelson scandal could be “terminal” for Mr McSweeney, but could also prove a serious problem for the Prime Minister.
They told the PA news agency: “I think Morgan McSweeney runs the show, and Keir just enables it and makes very bad decisions. I’m not sure how long this can continue though.”
Another also suggested that problems in Number 10 went beyond the chief of staff. They said: “Even a Morgan problem is ultimately a Keir problem.”
Downing Street said on Friday that the Prime Minister still had confidence in Mr McSweeney’s judgement.
“Of course the Prime Minister has confidence in his top team,” a No 10 spokesman said.
Sir Keir, who had said he had “full confidence” in Lord Mandelson before the emails were published, is facing questions over what he knew and when about the ex-ambassador’s ties to Epstein.
The chairwoman of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee is also demanding answers from the Foreign Secretary on the vetting process for Lord Mandelson’s appointment.
Dame Emily Thornberry said allegations that security concerns may have been overlooked during the appointments process were “potentially very serious”, in a letter to Yvette Cooper.
She asked whether the Foreign Office or Downing Street decided to dismiss any security concerns that were raised or change the vetting requirements for Lord Mandelson.
Newly appointed Foreign Secretary Ms Cooper said the decision to sack Lord Mandelson was “rightly taken” and backed Sir Keir’s “strong leadership” during a trip to Kyiv.
Scotland Secretary Douglas Alexander earlier told BBC Breakfast he understood why Labour MPs were “despondent” after the last week’s events, but said action had been taken and the Government was looking forward to moving on.
Allies of Lord Mandelson told The Times that he had admitted in his vetting interview that he continued his relationship with Epstein for many years.
His friendship with Epstein was known prior to his appointment, but reports in The Sun and Bloomberg showed their relationship had continued after the financier’s crimes had emerged.
Emails published on Wednesday afternoon included passages in which Lord Mandelson had told Epstein to “fight for early release” shortly before he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
He is also reported to have told Epstein “I think the world of you” the day before the disgraced financier began his sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008.
Mr Alexander said the emails had provided “materially new information” that exposed “manifest weaknesses” in Lord Mandelson’s judgement.
He added that an “unconventional ambassador” was needed to deal with an “unconventional presidential administration” under Donald Trump.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said Sir Keir had continued to back Lord Mandelson without the support of his party, which put him and his “right-hand man” Mr McSweeney in a “very difficult position” with their parliamentary party.
The Liberal Democrats called for the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee to scrutinise the next US ambassador before they are officially appointed.
