Next Labour leader: Keir Starmer and Jess Phillips among the candidates to replace Jeremy Corbyn
Jess Phillips has become the first Labour politician to throw her hat into the ring to replace Jeremy Corbyn as the party's leader.
A despondent Ms Phillips was interviewed before her count at Birmingham Yardley in the early hours of Friday morning and was told that people were keen for her to stand as the new leader.
Mr Corbyn arrived at Islington North to await the results of his own constituency under a dark cloud and facing mounting pressure for him to resign as exit polls indicated a huge Tory majority of 86 seats.
Although he won his seat by a massive 26,188 majority it is the second election in which he has led his party. And Britain will wake up tomorrow to his second loss.
Some have blamed Brexit, others have blamed Mr Corbyn himself, and it would seem he is on borrowed time as the leader of the opposition.
Those waiting in the wings to replace him are Keir Starmer, Emily Thornberry, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Angela Rayner and Yvette Cooper. But Ms Phillips has become the first to officially enter the race.
Asked on ITV News if she would replace him as leader of the Labour Party, Ms Phillips nodded, acknowledging that people wanted her to stand.
She said: "I have absolutely no idea. I haven't slept for 48 hours. I don't know what's going to happen next.
"But what I do know is if we think it's just a popularity contest at the top of the party...then we will inevitably end up in a poor situation."
She stopped short of firing the starting pistol on her own leadership bid, saying: "I'm not going to sit here and start some sort of election race or even demand Jeremy Corbyn goes.
"The Labour Party was never just about Jeremy Corbyn."
Ms Phillips said the initial election results for Labour appeared to be "totally devastating" and felt like a "kick in the stomach".
"I am very emotional, not just for me or the Labour Party - I am emotional for the people that the Labour Party was invented to help," she told reporters at Birmingham's International Convention Centre.
Claiming that Mr Johnson was on course for a majority that would "devastate" her community, she said structural change was needed in the Labour Party, but warned against playing a "personality game" over "who should go and who should stay".
After conceding that a "huge amount of people" had told her that they did not think that Jeremy Corbyn was a leader they could get behind, Ms Phillips added: "The reality is that the Labour Party has got to do a huge amount more than just think that getting rid of one man... will just simply make it okay."
Ms Phillips went on: "I could stand and pretend that it might not be as bad as it looks but the reality is that most people on the ground have known that it was going to be...I actually don't think I ever expected it to be this bad, but for it to be bad.
"I'm devastated. I don't know how you could have any other reaction other than being utterly heartbroken."
Ms Phillips was asked if it was Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn or policies that were too far to the left that caused the Labour defeat and she replied: "It was all of those things and many other things, and if we think that we can do a listicle check list of what went wrong, and just come up with a listicle check list of what we have to do next time for it to be right, we will inevitably end up in an even worsening position.
"And the Labour Party is now on its fourth election defeat. It hasn't won a General Election since 2005.
"This is not a time for easy answers, as much as I wish it was, I wish there was some silver bullet but I also wish I was a size 10."
Labour politicians call on Jeremy Corbyn to resign
Anger boiled over inside the Labour camp as they were faced with the dire consequences of a failed election campaign.
The party saw strongholds like Wrexham and Workington - seats that have never in their history been represented by anyone other than Labour - fall to the Conservatives.
And many said the blame lay squarely at the party leader's feet.
Labour's Ruth Smeeth called for Jeremy Corbyn to resign as she faced losing her seat in Stoke-on-Trent North.
She said: "I have lost, I am no longer MP - this is a disaster. Jeremy Corbyn should resign now before his own count is in."
Ms Smeeth has been critical of Mr Corbyn's handling of anti-Semitism allegations in the Labour party. She is a Remain supporter in an area which voted to Leave the EU.
Asked whether Mr Corbyn should continue as Labour Party leader, Dan Jarvis - who held on to his Barnsley Central seat - said of his leader: "I haven't seen the results as they're playing out across the country, so what I'm going to do now is go home, have a cup of tea and see where we've got to around the country.
"But it looks as if it has been a hugely disappointing night for the Labour Party. We'll all need to reflect upon that and take a view quickly about what it is we need to do to rebuild as a party.
"We have to understand where we've fallen short and what it is the public want to see (from) us and we've got to begin that process of rebuilding sooner rather than later."
Asked whether he would consider running for the leadership should Corbyn stand down, Jarvis added: "I'm pretty busy at the moment, I'm also the Sheffield City Region mayor and that is a big commitment and not one that I take lightly.
"Let's see what the night brings, but I'm pretty busy at the moment."
Ian Murray, who previously served as shadow Scotland secretary under Mr Corbyn and is trying to retain Edinburgh South, rejected the official narrative.
"Every door I knocked on, and my team and I spoke to 11,000 people, mentioned Corbyn," he said.
"Not Brexit but Corbyn. I've been saying this for years. The outcome is that we've let the country down and we must change course and fast."
Labour's Gareth Snell predicted his own defeat ahead in the Brexit-backing former stronghold of Stoke-on-Trent Central and called for the resignation of Mr Corbyn on the BBC.
"I'm going to lose badly and this is the start of 20 years of Tory rule," he added.
Who is in line to replace Jeremy Corbyn?
Keir Starmer | 7/4
Rebecca Long Bailey | 5/2
Jess Phillips | 7/1
Angela Rayner | 8/1
Yvette Cooper | 8/1
Emily Thornberry | 10/1
John McDonnell | 20/1
Laura Pidcock | 20/1
Clive Lewis | 20/1
David Miliband | 20/1
Odds from William Hill
