Liz Kendall today revealed she is ready to join forces with Chuka Umunna and Tristram Hunt to campaign for moderniser policies if Jeremy Corbyn wins Labour’s leadership.
In an interview with the Evening Standard, leadership candidate Ms Kendall praised the pair for forming a new pressure group which has been dubbed “The Resistance”.
“It’s a great idea,” she said. “If I’m invited I would certainly go along.”
All three frontbenchers have declared they will refuse to serve in a shadow cabinet led by Left-winger Mr Corbyn.
Ms Kendall made clear in the interview she will devote herself to “serious thinking” about party policy from the backbenches if she loses.
“Honestly? I think the debate is going to continue after September 12,” she said. “The new person will be elected, but this debate is going to go on for a long time.” She also warned against the phenomenon dubbed “Southern Discomfort” where Labour does badly in the south of England outside London. “We cannot form a government if we have so few Labour seats in the whole of the South-East,” she said. “We’ve got to talk about opportunity again.”
Former Home Secretary David Blunkett intervened with a warning that Labour would remain in opposition if it elected Mr Corbyn as leader.
The MP, backing Andy Burnham, said: “Let’s be clear about this, if you want a really good, vigorous, outriding opposition, and you want to continue being in opposition, vote for somebody who is good at opposition.
“Jeremy has not only been good at opposition against the Tories, he is profoundly good at opposition against my party.”
Mr Blunkett cast doubt on whether a Burnham leadership would give a senior post to Mr Corbyn, a question that Mr Burnham has been unclear about.
Sarah Brown, the wife of ex-PM Gordon, today endorsed Yvette Cooper via Twitter.
A Corbyn victory was looking certain to some, with bookmakers Paddy Power saying it was already paying out on bets because his success was a “done deal”.
Yvette Cooper today vowed to make sex education compulsory for children from the age of seven.
Her five-point women’s equality plan also included a new Equalities Act, a protest-free buffer zone around abortion clinics, free universal childcare for some children and a “proper” Living Wage. “I’m proud to be feminist,” she said.
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Scotland’s Daily Record newspaper today backed Mr Corbyn with a front page article hailing him for offering “fresh hope to the nation”. Its sister paper, the Daily Mirror, has endorsed Mr Burnham. @JoeMurphyLondon
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