Defence Minister and ex-Royal Marine Al Carns was hailed on Saturday as Labour's new 'Reform slayer' and the best person to replace Sir Keir Starmer.
The Mail on Sunday was told that ex-Special Forces colonel Mr Carns was now the choice of many new Labour MPs to be the next party leader as the man best placed to defeat Nigel Farage.
One MP said on Saturday: 'Al Carns is clearly our Reform slayer - he's the one who'll take the fight to Farage at the Commons Despatch Box.
'I just don't think candidates like Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting just can't do that.'
The surge in support among Labour MPs who, like Mr Carns were only elected in 2024, apparently followed his pugnacious media performances last week that has also led to former military colleagues privately dubbing 'Rambo'.
That included declaring that if he was in the same situation as ex-Number 10 aide Morgan McSweeney and was having his mobile phone stolen, he would not let the thief escape.
Mr Carns, 46, who won the Military Cross for his service in Afghanistan, told BBC2's Newsnight: 'I'd like to see the person who's going to steal it because I'm going to chase them down the street and get it back.'
However, he also insisted he 'wasn't interested' in talking about someone's phone, saying: 'I'm interested in with the crisis in the Middle East involving hundreds of either British citizens or ex-pats, and a war in Ukraine that's caused a million casualties -more casualties than America took in the entire Second World War.'
The Mail on Sunday was told that Defence Minister and ex-Royal Marine Al Carns was now the choice of many new Labour MPs to be the next party leader as the man best placed to defeat Nigel Farage
He batted away a further question, saying: 'I'm not going to discuss the details of someone's phone when I have two wars ongoing - I think this is gutter politics.'
He has also been filmed in a promotional video doing pull-ups at a fire station in his Birmingham Selly Oak constituency in competition with a firefighter.
That was one of a series of promotional videos involving local organisations and public services in his constituency, and which cost £3,000 of parliamentary expenses to produce.
His office has insisted that the videos were made 'in full compliance' with parliamentary expenses rules and Mr Carns himself has said that he would 'never apologise' for championing public services.
In the wake of his television interviews last week, one ex-Royal Marine told the Mail on Sunday that some of the Minister's former commando colleagues were now dubbing him 'Rambo Carns' after the fictional US special forces Vietnam War hero immortalised by SylvesterStallone in a series of action films.
The ex-marine said: 'I think he was trying too hard to impress when he doesn't need to.'
Even so, Mr Carns appears to have admirers among his political foes as well as friends.
Ex-Special Forces colonel Mr Carns was hailed on Saturday as Labour's new 'Reform slayer'
Earlier this year, a Tory MP said: 'He's one of the most capable individuals on the Labour benches and would be an absolute nightmare to face.'
However, many other Labour MPs privately say it is 'ridiculous' that someone with less than two years' experience at Westminster could become Prime Minister.
But on Saturday, Mr Carns's allies played down any such leadership ambitions on his part.
They insisted that he was getting on with his Veterans Minister job, adding that he had 'no campaign, no ambition and no team'.