Here is the reported text of the letter being circulated among Labour MPs (which almost all denied seeing as of this afternoon). Nick Robinson of the BBC has the story.

“We are writing now because we believe that in the current political circumstances you can best serve the interests of the Labour party by stepping down as prime minister.”

It’s succint compared to the parallel letter written by Tom Watson a couple of years ago as the West Bromwich MP forced the exit of Tony Blair.

Which was:

Dear Tony

The Labour Party has been my life since I was 15 years old.

I have served the party at every conceivable level and your own leadership since 1994 in a dozen different capacities, latterly as MP for West Bromwich East, a government whip, and as parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Ministry of Defence. Read more

Allegra Stratton at the Guardian has her second scoop of the day: a coup timetable. It could apparently all be over by the first week of July.

4 June: Local and European election polling day Read more

Here is the best explanation I’ve seen so far as to how Labour rebels hope to oust their leader. You may remember that their last attempt to storm the barricades ended in bathetic failure last autumn.

Now the plan is to secretly gather names using a form of secret email petition. Read more

Gordon Brown tried to make a point of praising his chancellor in the present tense at PMQs just now – to make up for unfortunate lack of support a few days ago. The suggestion seems to be that Alistair Darling may not be destined for the reshuffle guillotine after all.*

But there was still one lapse into the past tense. Read more