LABOUR’S “soft left” was moving to assert control over the government today as they took advantage of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s perilous political predicament.

After Sir Keir hung on to his post, at least temporarily, by strong-arming the Cabinet into declaring a public support few privately share, leading figures on the soft left of the party acted to advance their agenda.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell all stressed that the party needed to move on from the factional approach that ousted Downing Street chief of staff Morgan McSweeney was seen to have imposed.

While Sir Keir has survived the immediate turmoil, his position remains precarious as he struggles with the fallout from the disgrace of Peter Mandelson, who he appointed ambassador to Washington, and the departure of Mr McSweeney on top of catastrophic poll ratings.

Most Labour MPs still believe it is unlikely that Sir Keir will be able to survive an anticipated drubbing at the polls in May’s elections for devolved assemblies and local authorities.

Smelling blood, the “soft left” in Parliament is now pushing for a Cabinet reshuffle aimed at bringing back figures like former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, whose public backing on Monday was crucial in helping the premier survive this far, as well as Ms Powell and former transport secretary Louise Haigh.

They are also demanding a policy and attitudinal reset in the way Downing Street conducts its business.

Mr Miliband, whose political position has been strengthened by the chaos, told the BBC: “This has got to be … a moment of change where we have much greater clarity of purpose, avoid some of the mistakes that we’ve made, but also focus outwards on the country.”

Echoing language used by Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar when he called on Sir Keir to quit, he said the government’s achievements were being “drowned out” by issues like the Mandelson scandal.

Mr Miliband also once more ruled out running for the party leadership again, something he has now done so often it must be at least possible that he means it.

Mr Burnham, who has by no means denied such an ambition, also weighed in today. Like Mr Miliband, he stressed the need for the government to intervene more powerfully on the side of working-class people.

He said that “recent events have drawn a heavy line under a political culture that was too close to wealth and power and too distant from the lives” of working people.

The mayor called for stability and unity in the party “and that would be helped by a more inclusive way of running the party. Recent events makes that now feel possible.”

This was a clear rebuke for Mr McSweeney, understood to be instrumental in blocking Mr Burnham from running in the impending Gorton and Denton by-election.

Setting out his own stall, Mr Burnham, understood to be still looking for a way to return to the Commons, said that “the decisions of politicians from the 1980s onwards have left us in hock” to the bond markets, “with little headroom and room for manoeuvre.

“The time has come to call an end to this era in British politics, when politicians got too close to wealth, too seduced by the notion that deregulated markets would provide the solution when in fact they have been the problem for those on the lowest incomes.”

The beleaguered Sir Keir thanked his Cabinet for their support at a meeting today and also received qualified backing from Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan, herself looking down the barrel of electoral Armageddon come May.

Later Sir Keir doubled down on his commitment to stay in post, melodramatically telling a meeting in Hertfordshire: “I will never walk away from the mandate I was given to change this country, I will never walk away from the people that I’m charged with fighting for, I will never walk away from the country that I love.”

Health Secretary Wes Streeting appears to have been bruised by Monday’s shenanigans. He has been accused of plotting, including with Mr Sarwar, against Sir Keir but then failing to act.

He denies any intrigue but has been additionally embarrassed by revealing messages he sent to his friend Mr Mandelson in which he conceded that the government had “no growth strategy at all.”

The Metropolitan Police, currently probing Mr Mandelson’s conduct, asked other ministers to refrain from publishing their private messages to the disgraced envoy lest their inquiries be prejudiced.