Mr Foley denies the allegation and the journalist involved has not lodged an official complaint. A NSW Liberal minister told Fairfax Media the government believed Mr Foley's leadership was untenable and is preparing for Mr Daley to assume the role. "We expect Foley to be cooked when Parliament goes back," he said. "He's saying there's no complaint - well, there's no denial either. I just don't see how he can survive." Other government sources the Sun-Herald spoke to confirmed the party was preparing for a Daley-led Labor. Labor MPs from the left and right factions rallied behind Mr Foley on Saturday, casting the claims against their leader as a smear campaign. They said no one was counting numbers in preparation for a leadership challenge. Under siege: Labor leader Luke Foley. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Shadow health minister Walt Secord, who is close to Mr Foley, told Fairfax Media: "This is a political smear peddled by desperate Liberal ministers and orchestrated by the premier’s office. "I don’t intend to provide a running commentary on it other than to say that Luke Foley will be the next Labor Premier of NSW and Gladys Berejiklian, as an ex-premier, will be forced to return to the corporate banking sector in April 2019." Other MPs argued Mr Foley was safe for the time being as they would not move against him without an official complaint. They drew comparisons with Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce, whose accuser lodged a complaint and was forced to go on the record. The party found the evidence was inconclusive. It’s not usually good to hang people without any evidence": Liberal upper house member Peter Phelps. Credit:Jon Reid Liberal upper house member Peter Phelps warned his own party against pursuing Mr Foley on the matter, suggesting Corrections Minister David Elliott crossed a line in raising the allegations.

"You can nail him on so many other things," he said. "Going after unsubstantiated allegations about what happens when you're drunk – we can do better than that. Dr Phelps empathised with Labor's refusal to condemn Mr Foley, saying: "It’s not usually good to hang people without any evidence." But he warned if Labor switched to Mr Daley, it should expect a full onslaught using footage of the Maroubra MP slurring his speech in the chamber in 2012. Loading "You're in Parliament and you're smashed. It’s in the workplace and it’s on video. If I were a Liberal strategist I'd have that on high rotation," he said. "Members of the public don’t demand a lot from their parliamentarians, but turning up sober for work in Parliament is one thing they do expect and is probably not unreasonable to expect."