Labor fights to preserve unity as Joel Fitzgibbon calls for Mark Butler to be moved from climate portfolio

Deputy leader Richard Marles backs Anthony Albanese and says it is not the place for party members to call on frontbenchers to resign

Labor's deputy leader, Richard Marles, has backed Anthony Albanese's capacity to connect with blue-collar workers, and says Mark Butler should remain as the shadow climate change minister, after Joel Fitzgibbon escalated Labor's internal warfare by demanding Butler be replaced in his portfolio.

Fitzgibbon, who quit the frontbench this week after a protracted internal battle about climate change policy, is continuing to throw bombs as he moves to the backbench.