At two-hourly intervals the anti-Brown plotters send out their Amazon warriors

One by one, Labour’s battle-hardened Amazonian warriors stepped forward to undermine Gordon Brown’s leadership yesterday.

Nine years ago Tony Blair’s so-called ‘babes’ helped sweep Labour to power. Now the disaffected remnants of that group of 101 women MPs might spell the end for Mr Brown.

Joan Ryan, Janet Anderson and Fiona Mactaggart joined their ‘sister’ Siobhain McDonagh’s call for a leadership challenge.

At 8.30am yesterday Enfield North MP Ms Ryan went on the BBC to call for a ‘multiplicity’ of challengers to compete for the leadership. She said: ‘I have written to the party and asked for nomination papers to be issued.’

Her intervention led to her sacking as Labour vice-chairman – but within minutes former Culture Minister Janet Anderson, the Labour MP for Rossendale & Darwen, also asked for leadership nomination papers to be sent out.

By 1pm the television news channels had added another name to the list, as Fiona Mactaggart, another former Home Office Minister, joined the fray revealing that she had also asked the party for nomination papers last month.

Their comments have intensified the pressure on Mr Brown, who is now facing an attempted coup by a growing number of Labour MPs.

On Friday he was forced to sack Ms McDonagh, a junior Whip, after she became the first member of his administration to call for a leadership election. Ms McDonagh said her call reflected the private concerns of many Labour MPs.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Ms Ryan said: ‘I think that in order to serve our constituents properly to the best of our ability, to face the big issues that are facing our constituents and to ensure that we have the best way forward to deal with those big issues, we need to have this debate about the direction and leadership of our country out in the open now.

File photo dated 13/5/1999 of Labour MP Janet Anderson who has requested nomination papers be sent out for challengers to compete for the leadership of her party. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Saturday September 13 2008. See PA story POLITICS Labour. Photo credit should read: Neil Munns/PA Wire

Fiona Mactaggart MP for Slough - Parlimentary Private Secretary for Janet Anderson.

‘Because it’s a debate that I haven’t caused, but it’s a debate that’s happening anyway, at all levels. The fact that it’s a little more open now is healthy, better. It’s happening at all levels of the party and it should be happening in a more open and honest way.’

She insisted that she was not part of ‘a plot or a conspiracy’. But she said ‘a number of MPs’ had expressed concerns to her. She declined to say whom she would back in a leadership election.

She said: ‘I think we need to have a leadership election to trigger a deep and far-reaching debate, and those people in our party who have something to offer and are capable of leadership need to put themselves forward.

‘We need a multiplicity of candidates. That’s a healthy thing to do. It’s happening anyway, as I say, but it’s happening behind closed doors.’

Ms Ryan has been critical in recent months of Labour’s alleged failure to relate to voters.