John McDonnell to announce Labour leadership candidacy

Left-wing Labour MP John McDonnell will today announce he intends to stand in the Labour leadership campaign, it was revealed.

Mr McDonnell, who retained his Hayes and Harlington seat at the General Election, will launch his campaign at the annual conference of the Public and Commercial Services Union in Brighton.

He will also speak tomorrow at the annual conference of the Fire Brigades Union in Southport, Merseyside.

Mr McDonnell unsuccessfully tried to challenge Gordon Brown for the leadership when he took over from Tony Blair in 2007.

He accused Labour of trying to "fix" the election process by only allowing four days next week for nominations.

He said the process was biased towards the favoured candidates of Labour's hierarchy because MPs would have no chance to consult their local parties properly.

He added: "We thought that New Labour had learned its lesson from the coronation of Gordon Brown and wanted a genuinely democratic process this time around.

"By curtailing the nomination process so drastically, the whole process is being discredited from the start."

Despite his criticism, Mr McDonnell said he will now attempt to gain enough nominations to stand in the election and ensure there was a "proper debate" about Labour's future.