Huddersfield MP calls for secret poll which could force Prime Minister to quit
But there were a flood of voices defending the PM, with Cabinet ministers Jack Straw, John Hutton, Geoff Hoon, Shaun Woodward and Andy Burnham, as well as Cabinet Office minister Liam Byrne and housing minister Margaret Beckett and a host of whips, junior ministers and backbenchers going public to express their disapproval of Mr Purnell’s move.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband - a close ally of Mr Purnell’s, with whom he served as a Downing Street staffer under Tony Blair - made it known that he would not be resigning from the Government, as did Europe minister Caroline Flint.
Suspicions that the wave of support may have been orchestrated by Downing Street or the Labour Party were fuelled when some backbenchers sent out identically-worded e-mails of support for the PM.
But many MPs were clearly outraged at the Cabinet infighting at a time when grassroots activists were out campaigning for Labour in the elections.
Morecambe and Lunesdale MP Geraldine Smith said: "I am absolutely furious at the gross disloyalty of these people. Most Labour MPs in the parliamentary Labour Party are still backing Gordon Brown and there is a small bunch of malcontents who are out to do as much damage as possible. It is disgraceful."
And former deputy prime minister John Prescott used a message on the Labourhome blog to dismiss Mr Purnell as "not so much a Blairite as a careerite".
Mr Prescott also unleashed a broadside at the organisers of what he dubbed Labour’s election "non-campaign" - including Ms Blears and deputy leader Harriet Harman - who he accused of "lacking the will to fight".
Mr Cameron used a video on his webcameron Internet site to denounce the "appalling, shambolic" state of the Government and call for an election.
"Don’t we deserve better than this? Don’t we deserve a bunch of people who at least can hang together and take some decisions, instead of spending all their time fighting each other?" he asked.
And he released a statement to say: "For the sake of the country, Gordon Brown must carry out the one final act of authority left open to him, go to the Palace and call the general election we have been demanding."
Danny Alexander, the chief of staff to Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, said: "It is clear that the Labour Government is in total meltdown, that Labour is finished as a Government.
"The people of this country have clearly lost confidence in this Labour Government and it seems now that ministers are losing confidence in their droves. We may well see more resignations."
