Gordon Brown tonight said he would not "waver or walk away" from ­Downing Street at the end of a day of surprise ­resignations, a hastily redrafted cabinet reshuffle, and the Labour party facing obliteration in the local elections.

In an extraordinary 24 hours that left political corpses littered across ­Westminster, Brown restored a degree of his authority when no other cabinet ­minister followed James Purnell by quitting in protest, and two critical cabinet figures – David Miliband and John Hutton – decided to shore up Brown's position rather than join a potential rebellion.

The prime minister, despite being unable to complete the kind of cabinet reshuffle he had wanted, was still defiant, saying: "I will get on with the job. I have faith in doing my duty ... I believe in never walking away in difficult times."

Labour rebels were regrouping tonight to mount a fresh assault on his leadership over the weekend in the wake of what are expected to be even worse ­European parliament election results, due to be announced on Sunday night. They were still maintaining that they could ­collect 70-80 signatures on a letter asking the prime minister to step down.

Leading leftwing MPs were planning to hold talks over the weekend with supporters of Alan Johnson, the man most likely to succeed Brown, to see if they can agree a clearer policy agenda, insisting they would not be frogmarched into an empty coronation of a new leader based around personality. "We are not a cheap date," said one.

Brown's fate may be sealed at a meeting of Labour MPs on Monday night, by which time backbenchers will have to show their hand or admit defeat.

But even as the prime minister was ­promoting his team as the best one to haul Britain out of recession, Caroline Flint, the Europe ­minister, ­reversed her decision to stay loyal and announced she was standing down. In an extraordinary attack, she accused Brown of using her as "little more than female window dressing".

In a dramatic day at Westminster, with Brown's chances of survival wavering :

• He was forced to scale back his reshuffle and retain Alistair Darling as chancellor, leaving his protege, Ed Balls, to stay at the children's department.

• Three cabinet ministers quit – the defence secretary, John Hutton, the transport secretary, Geoff Hoon, and the Welsh secretary, Paul Murphy.

• It emerged that Brown had repaid £181.88 to the Commons fees office following further claims about his Commons expenses. The Daily Telegraph reported he had submitted an electricity bill for his home in Fife which partly covered a period when London was his designated second home.

• Lord Mandelson was in effect appointed deputy prime minister and given the lead role in fighting the recession, when his business department was given an enhanced role.

• Norwich North's Labour MP, Ian ­Gibson, said he was resigning, prompting a byelection in protest at the way in which he was treated over his expenses.

The Blairite MP Stephen Byers led ­others questioning Brown's leadership, warning: "I think on Monday Labour MPs will be considering a very important question – is Gordon Brown a winner, or is ­Gordon Brown a loser?"

With most results in, Labour was heading for third place in the local elections. Results from councils showed Labour has been wiped off the electoral map in England outside big cities.

The last four county councils held by Labour –Lancashire, Derbyshire, ­Staffordshire and Nottinghamshire – all fell to the Tories. With 30 of 34 councils declared, Labour had lost 250 seats while the Tories had gained 217. The BNP gained its first two county council seats.

Labour came third in the BBC's estimated projected national vote share in the local elections - the Conservatives are on 38%, Labour on 23%, a historic low, the Lib Dems on 28%, and other parties on 11%.

No 10 was throughout the day warning Labour backbenchers that if they forced Brown from office, a new prime minister would not withstand the demands to hold a near instant general election that would lead to a Labour wipeout.

No 10 argued Labour's chances of emerging as a functioning party from this crisis depended on limping through the autumn under Brown's leadership in the belief that the economy would recover.

It was also said that some of the ministers with the most controversial expenses claims, details of which are still to emerge, have now left the cabinet, so making it easier to restore Labour's tarnished image. Speaking at Downing Street, Brown said the political crisis, fuelled by the Westminster expenses scandal, was "a test of everyone's nerve – mine, the government's, the country's".