Girls, girls, girls. When they stood on the steps outside Westminster in 1997, one whip warned that they would be trouble. Everyone dubbed them Blair’s Babes and analysed their lipsticks and their trouser suits. They were the Little Women of the House, and only a few wise old men realised that they might not always be so meek and mild.

Now they’ve proved their mettle. Under Tony Blair they buckled down, worked hard and were diligent and loyal. But that all changed under Gordon Brown.

They wanted to give the new leader a chance, he wasn’t prepared to return the compliment. He doesn’t warm to women, nor do his footballing band of brothers, the karaoke clique. The females in his inner circle — Yvette Cooper and Sue Nye — are wives of his allies Ed Balls and Gavyn Davies.

The other women have felt briefed against and bullied for two years. Harriet Harman was dismissed as deluded, Margaret Beckett complained of sexism.

But the sisterhood hasn’t stood for it. They have stuck together, forming a close group, the Volupts, having dinners together and backing each other publicly.

Underestimate these women at your peril. In troubled times, they have been quicker to act and more ruthless than the Big Male Beasts who snarl from the sidelines.

Last September Siobhain McDonagh, a party loyalist, was the first to rebel, demanding a leadership election because she wanted “to do the right thing”. She was quickly followed by Joan Ryan, Janet Anderson and Fiona MacTaggart. It was dubbed the cashmere coup. None of them bitched behind the scenes, they just didn’t enjoy cowering in Mr Brown’s locker room any more.

Ruth Kelly, the most senior sister to resign until this week, found that her decision to depart had been revealed by Damian McBride at 3am in a conference bar. “These things,” said Hazel Blears at the time, “have a weird way of emerging out of the darkness.”

When the expenses row erupted, it was the women who once again bore the brunt of Mr Brown’s wrath. Ms Blears was castigated by the Prime Minister, ostensibly because she was a home-flipper but actually because she had criticised her leader’s YouTube performance. Jacqui Smith was hung out to dry.

Now the Blair Babes are preparing their final stand. Ms Smith and Ms Blears are the first ministers to resign in the week of a local election for 45 years.

Caroline Flint, the warrior princess, has made it clear that she is fed up with Gordon’s gentlemen’s club. It hasn’t been a case of dead men walking, but real women standing up for what they believe.

Ms Blears was furious after No 10 insinuated that she had leaked her friend Ms Smith’s resignation. A tribal Labourite, the Communities Secretary would never have quit before an election unless she had been pushed beyond endurance. She left sporting a brooch saying “Rocking the Boat”.

Even yesterday, at PMQs, Mr Brown was still belittling her, thanking her for sponsoring “urban regeneration in shopping centres”, while No 10 was briefing that she quit because there was more dirt to come. These women don’t want revenge, they just aren’t prepared to be pushed around anymore. Everyone has been waiting for the men in grey suits to decide Mr Brown’s fate, but it may be the women in black skirts who will do for Gordon.

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