Labour rebels are planning to approach Ed Miliband as they seek to launch a leadership challenge against Sir Keir Starmer.
There is widespread disillusionment within the Labour party over following Sir Keir’s U-turn on the Conservatives’ two-child benefits cap.
The policy prevents parents from claiming benefits for any third or subsequent child born after April 2017.
It has been described as “heinous” by senior members of Sir Keir’s top team, but he told the BBC on Sunday that he was “not changing” the Tory policy if Labour wins power.
Speaking to LBC, Jeremy Corbyn said: “I have spoken to quite a lot of Labour MPs about it.
“They are seething with anger, particularly as commitments have been made regularly by the party that we would take children out of poverty.
“Even the Blair government, which Keir Starmer often quotes, did do a great deal to lift children out of poverty by not having a two-child policy.”
A group of former advisers who worked for Starmer and Corbyn now believe the Labour leader should be toppled because his stance on the welfare policy is part of a wider conservatism that will switch off voters.
The group were planning to approach Ed Miliband to trigger a challenge, i has learned, but the former Labour leader has made clear he thinks the idea is “nuts” and that Starmer has his full loyalty.
“We wouldn’t give these people the time of day. It’s absolutely bonkers because you could not find someone more loyal to Keir than Ed. It’s completely nuts,” a source close to Miliband said.
Sir Keir’s allies were also sanguine about the idea of a leadership challenge, as party rules require 20 per cent of the Parliamentary party – 39 MPs – to launch any such coup attempt.
But party unease over Starmer’s leadership spilled over at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party on Monday night, when deputy leader Angela Rayner faced calls from backbenchers to rethink the welfare policy.
Related: Jeremy Corbyn signals he could run for London mayor