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Number 10: Minister has not quit Number 10: Minister has not quit
(20 minutes later)
Downing Street sources have told the BBC that minister David Cairns has not informed them he intends to resign.Downing Street sources have told the BBC that minister David Cairns has not informed them he intends to resign.
There have been reports the Scotland Office minister is about to quit over Gordon Brown's leadership.There have been reports the Scotland Office minister is about to quit over Gordon Brown's leadership.
Inverclyde MP Mr Cairns, a former Catholic priest who was elected to Parliament in 2001, became a minister at the Scotland Office in 2007.Inverclyde MP Mr Cairns, a former Catholic priest who was elected to Parliament in 2001, became a minister at the Scotland Office in 2007.
Two Labour MPs have been sacked from government jobs and a third quit after calling for a leadership contest.Two Labour MPs have been sacked from government jobs and a third quit after calling for a leadership contest.
Mr Cairns used to be a researcher for Siobhain McDonagh, the first member of the government to be sacked in the row. The former assistant whip broke ranks last Friday to call for a challenge to the prime minister.
Later a party vice-chairman, Joan Ryan, was sacked for the same reason and Barry Gardiner, who had been the PM's special envoy on forestry, left the job "by mutual consent" after backing the calls and saying people had stopped listening to Mr Brown.
Fiona MacTaggart, a former Home Office minister, also joined the calls over the weekend. She told the BBC on Tuesday she did not regret going public: "What it has done is ensured that the leadership of the Labour Party, the cabinet of ministers, realise how serious the position is.
"Previously I'm afraid that they were behaving somewhat like ostriches with their heads in the sand, hoping things would get better and turn up. That is not now possible."
But several senior Labour figures have warned their colleagues that a leadership contest could be damaging and voters expected the government to be concentrating on the issues affecting the country - like the turbulence in the financial markets following the collapse of US investment bank Lehman brothers.
Former foreign secretary Margaret Beckett told the BBC: "We're not talking about 'shall we have the luxury of wondering whether this leader or that leader would suit us better', this is the man in charge in very difficult times and nobody better, in my view."