Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge and Shadow Minister for Transport, has said that he thinks “there should now be a contest to retest” whether Jeremy Corbyn still has the support of the Labour Party membership

Speaking on Sunday Politics East, Zeichner – who supported Yvette Cooper in last year’s leadership election – said that the embattled Corbyn should remain the leader of the party “for as long as he’s elected to be leader of the Labour Party by the members.”

“The rules of the party are there, and if people want to have a contest, they should use those rules to trigger a contest – then we’ll see. We don’t even know who the candidates would be at that point at the moment.”

However, a confessed “proverbial optimist”, Zeichner retains a positive outlook for the Labour Party, saying that the party’s current difficulties were caused by a “psychodrama in the Conservative Party” and that “Labour will emerge from this much more strongly,” since “the divisions in the country cannot be solved by a Conservative market approach.”

Zeichner’s comments come amid calls from many within the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), as well as the wider Labour Party and beyond, for Corbyn to step down as leader following the resignation of swathes of shadow cabinet secretaries and ministers in the wake of the EU referendum.

The Cambridge MP, whose shadow ministerial portfolio includes buses, bikes, and walking, is among those not to resign. He has now found himself on a shadow transport team headed by a new shadow secretary, Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald having replaced Lillian Greenwood, who resigned on 26th June – one of the first to do so.

“I was astonished when Jeremy asked me to join the shadow transport team,” said Zeichner. “I thought it’d be good for Cambridge, and I thought it’d be good for Labour in the east to have someone in that team, so that’s why I’ve stayed in my post.”

Meanwhile, the University of Cambridge branch of Unite the union has passed a motion “condemning the actions of sabotaging MPs of the Labour Party”, and defending Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

The motion – which was presented by former Cambridge Graduate Union President, Arsalan Ghani – “argued that the branch is dismayed and angered by the antics of a section of the Parliamentary Labour Party… who have sought to undermine democratically elected leader Jeremy Corbyn.

“The branch condemns the actions of the former members of the shadow cabinet, who instead of fighting the Conservatives, have sought to undermine Labour by plunging the party into crisis.”

The Unite branch has now set up a working group to “engage with other unions and groups in Cambridge to defend Jeremy Corbyn in the present crisis”, and which will seek to coordinate with the Cambridge Labour Party.