Jeremy Corbyn was briefly heckled as he addressed crowds of supporters in London this evening and told them he would continue as leader.
A planned rally in Bloomsbury was cancelled earlier today by Momentum because of “overwhelming demand”, but Mr Corbyn turned up instead to a smaller gathering outside the School of African and Oriental Studies.
With former shadow business secretary Angela Eagle expected to announce she will run as a “unity” candidate against him tomorrow, Mr Corbyn vowed he would be “carrying on” his work as leader.
He said: “I was very honoured to be elected leader of the Labour Party last year.
“I have done my best over this year to have a go at the policy change we want and reach out to people in the way they want - and recognise they are many in the party who may not completely agree with the direction I want to take.”
A handful of people heckled the leader at one point during his speech with one branding him a "moron" and another shouting: “What about Europe? Where were you when we needed you?"
Supporters responded with a chorus of boos and cries of "Jeremy" that drowned out the heckles.
The event was held as leading unions urged Labour MPs to respect Mr Corbyn’’s authority and said his position should not be challenged except through the proper democratic procedures.
In a joint statement by unions including Unite, Unison and the GMB, they said: "His position cannot and should not be challenged except through the proper democratic procedures provided for in the party's constitution.
"We urge all Labour MPs to abide by those procedures, and to respect the authority of the party's Leader.
"While we have stated that we believe a leadership election would be an unwelcome distraction at this time of crisis, if one nevertheless occurs through the proper procedures we would expect all parts of the party to honour the result and pull together in the interests of the country, and working people in particular.”
Earlier, shadow chancellor John McDonnell described the Parliamentary Labour Party as "like a lynch mob without the rope".
He said: "Jeremy won a mandate last summer and there are a handful of MPs who couldn't accept that mandate.
“We've been expecting a coup any time since then.
"They said we couldn't win parliamentary seats but in every parliamentary by-election we have increased the Labour majority.
"The Parliamentary Labour Party meeting - it's not a meeting to enjoy. It was like a lynch mob without the rope.
More than 60 MPs have resigned since Mr Corbyn sacked shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn in the early hours of Sunday morning, after Mr Benn told him MPs had no confidence in his ability to win an election.
His party have accused him of leading a lacklustre Remain campaign for the party in the lead up to the EU referendum.
Additional reporting by the Press Association.
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