A defiant Jeremy Corbyn denounced an attempted coup against his leadership of the Labour party as "internal factional manoeuvring" when responding to David Cameron's statement on the EU referendum result to London's House of Commons on Monday (27 June 2016).

"The country will not thank neither the benches in front nor those behind for indulging in internal factional manoeuvring at this time," the left-winger told MPs.

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The comments, which drew groans from the opposition benches, came as Corbyn faced a string of resignations from his shadow cabinet in reaction to Hilary Benn being sacked as shadow foreign secretary. Labour MPs protested against Corbyn's pro-EU campaign performance after many of the party's heartlands backed a Brexit vote on 23 June.

The Labour leader has since made 10 appointments to his shadow cabinet, including promoting Emily Thornberry to shadow foreign secretary, and said he would run in a future leadership election.

Meanwhile, Cameron was cheered by Conservative MPs as he rose to make his statement in the Commons.

The prime minister confirmed the creation of a Brexit unit in the civil service, which will be "at the heart of government" and staffed by the "best and brightest" to deal with the UK's negotiations with the EU to exit the political and economic union once Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty is triggered.

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Conservative minister Oliver Letwin, a close ally of Cameron's who is "playing no part" in the Tory leadership election, will oversee the unit and take representations from across the political parties. Cameron also issued a call for unity across the UK after a number of hate crimes had been reported in the wake of the Brexit result.

Cameron announced his intention to resign as prime minister in reaction to the 52% to 48% Leave result, with Corbyn paying tribute to the outgoing Conservative leader for passing the Same Sex Couples Act 2013, his response to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry and Cameron's reaction to the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox.

David Cameron