David Cameron is under immediate pressure to quit as Prime Minister following the vote to quit the European Union.
Despite more than 80 Tory MPs signing a letter saying Mr Cameron has a “mandate and a duty” to remain in post, scores of Conservatives now believe he cannot stay in Number 10 for long.
Hilary Benn, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, and Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, are among leading opposition figures who have already said Mr Cameron will have to leave office.
Mr Farage told ITV's Good Morning Britain that it was "unacceptable" for Cameron to stay on as PM while Mr Benn said it was "very hard" for him to continue.
Critics will question how a sitting Prime Minister can remain in post when more than half of the country’s voters have defied him on the biggest political decision for a generation.
However MPs from across the political divide urged Mr Osborne and his chancellor, George Osborne, to stay in an attempt to oversee a period of “calm”, saying Mr Cameron had a “mandate and a duty” to continue as Prime Minister.
More than 80 Eurosceptic Tory MPs – including every Cabinet minister who voted Leave – signed a letter addressed to Mr Cameron, urging him to remain as Prime Minister regardless of the referendum result.
Whatever the Prime Minister’s decision it seems likely that there will be a race for the Tory leadership within months, with pro-Brexit politicians Boris Johnson and Michael Gove expected to be the favourites.
Long-standing Eurosceptic John Redwood suggested Tories should wait to see if Mr Cameron was willing to "implement the public will" after a Leave vote.
Mr Redwood said the PM should bring in talent from the Leave side to build "a new government to bind the country together" while Conservative backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg said a general election in the autumn was "not impossible".
Liam Fox, the former defence secretary, said Mr Cameron should continue to lead: "What we now need to do is to provide some calmness and reassure people and that requires us to have political stability. As the Prime Minister who gave us the referendum, he is best placed to see us through".
Brexit-backing Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan said: “I feel so proud to be British this morning. The hectoring, the bullying, the scare-stories failed to dent our resolve. #IndependenceDay.
“The task now is to unite the country, to move in a measured and phased way to a status that both Leavers and Remainers can accept".”
Chuka Umunna, Labour's former shadow business secretary, said: "When Nigel Farage gets up and says this is a victory for decent, honest, real, ordinary people, that tends to suggest that all the people who voted for us to stay don't fall into that category.
"The challenge for us as policy makers, as politicians, is how do we knit together our society after this division".
Nigel Farage: 'unaccapetable' for PM to stay in post
Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, told ITV's Good Morning Britain: “My feeling is the Prime Minister could have risen up to the fray. He chose not to, I think he probably has to go. I think we have to have a Brexit Prime Minister.”
“The Conservative party has literally split down the middle over this and I know a lot of Conservative MPs I’ve spoken to who feel that frankly the way he [David Cameron] and [George] Osborne have behaved in this campaign has been appalling. They have stretched the truth, let’s be nice, I could use a stronger word. It’s not acceptable I don’t think for Conservative backbenchers for this man to stay on.”
Asked who he would back as PM, farage said: “Well that competition could be between Michael Gove, Boris Johnson, Liam Fox. I don’t know, but I’m also keen that we have a negotiating team that has in it people like John Redwood, people like David Davies, people like Peter Lilley who have real experience of being ministers and have worked in the real world.”
Labour MPs call on Cameron to go
Labour immediately turned on Cameron in the aftermath of the vote to leave.
Hilary Benn, the shadow foreign secretary, said: "I think it's very hard for him in those circumstances to remain. If you are the Prime Minister, you've called this referendum, you've laid your reputation on the line and your arguments, I think it's going to be very hard."
Labour MP Kate Hoey, the Leave campaigner, cast further doubt on the futures of Mr Cameron and George Osborne, despite admitting the result also exposed a "huge disconnect" in her party.
"I certainly do not want to see David Cameron leading the negotiations," she told Radio 4's Today progamme. "We have to get someone who is genuinely committed to getting out."
She added: "At the moment George Osborne should be heavily criticised for the way he has handled this, the way he has scared the markets as we have seen today.
"But that will pass. Whether he will see that pass, I'm not so sure."
Chris Evans, Labour MP, wrote on Twitter: "The PM must resign now. He doesn't have the authority or credibility to steady the ship and negotiate for us on the world stage."
Lib Dem's Tim Farron blasts Cameron
Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said he was "angry and heartbroken" and accused David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn of taking the country "over the edge".
"This self-inflicted wound will be Cameron's legacy," he said. "This is his failing. And when the call went out to Jeremy Corbyn, he refused to answer.
"Their self-interested political manoeuvring has taken our country to the brink, and we are toppling over the edge.
"The Prime Minister must now act quickly to steady the economy, reassure the markets, and immediately set a new course. If he cannot do this immediately, there is no possible way he can remain in office."
PM will be 'pondering' quitting, says former spin doctor
David Cameron's former spin doctor Andy Coulson said he suspected the Prime Minister would now be considering his position but insisted he should stay in post as the country needs experienced leadership.
Mr Coulson told ITV News: "I think as we speak right now in Downing Street David Cameron is pondering that very thing.
"I suspect that there are a large number of people urging him to stay - hopefully pointing out to him that what we need now actually is leadership and to coin a phrase - it's no time for a novice, you need someone with experience, you need someone who understands the processes.
"But I suspect that David Cameron is now pondering the possibility of stepping down."
Plaid Cymru leader blames Cameron
With 17 out of Wales's 22 councils backing Brexit, Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood , who wanted the UK to stay in the EU, blamed Prime Minister David Cameron for the bad timing of the referendum.
She said the vote was too close to the Welsh Assembly elections in May and had made the Remain campaign less effective.
"We warned the Prime Minister very early on that the date was too close to the Welsh and Scottish elections and that it would cause problems," she added.
The Plaid leader also said she was not surprised that so many parts of Wales had voted to leave the EU - despite the country benefiting from billions of EU funding over the years.
She added: "It looks as if the areas where there are greater levels of deprivation and received the most of European Union funding are the areas most likely to have the greatest numbers of those wanting to leave.
"The EU referendum has been an opportunity to land a blow on the political establishment."
WHO-Food manufacturer Ting Hsin International Group
WHEN-june
WHAT-votes to leave the EU
WHY-some people wanted to leave the EU
WHERE-
HOW-
