Corybn is now the 2-1 favourite with the bookies too.
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Jeremy Corbyn conceded there was some room for renegotiating with Brussels following the treatment of Greece’s left-wing government; Yvette Cooper, Liz Kendall and Andy Burnham all said they could not imagine voting to leave under any circumstances.
Labour’s opponents are relishing Corbyn’s surge.
During a leadership hustings on LBC, she warned that a Corbyn win would put the party out of power for “a generation”.
Some Labour lawmakers have said they will try to oust Corbyn immediately if he wins the leadership ballot, the result of which will be announced September 12.
THE irony of Tony Blair claiming Jeremy Corbyn would take the Labour Party backwards should not be lost on those of us who salute the growing momentum behind the Islington North MP. There is more competition on the left of the political spectrum, which is also more geographically fragmented. “If it does that, frankly, it has a death wish”. Corbyn has argued on many occasions that he would focus on mobilising leftwing non-voters. “The so-called “trendy left” politics of the early 1980s was a contributory factor in covering up child abuse”, Mann said.
Three out of four of the contenders also have a negative net rating on prime ministerial credentials.
It led to calls for Ms Kendall to drop out of the race and throw her support behind one of the other mainstream candidates to ensure one of them secures enough votes to beat Mr Corbyn, the veteran left-winger.
Ms Kendall commented that Labour held Gower for “106 years” until May’s election and underscored her commitment to seeing the party perform well in next year’s Assembly vote.
Front-runner Mr Burnham was seen by only 27 per cent of voters in a new opinion poll as having “what it takes to be a good prime minister” while the same number did not think he had the right qualities. “It’s nonsense, ‘ says one Burnham source”. Cooper’s net score is -12, Kendall’s -14 and Corbyn’s -19.
Blair made his speech as Labour languishes in the middle of a tightly contested and controversial leadership campaign.
Prescott said: “Who the heck is John McTernan?”
“We lost in 2010 because we stepped somewhat from that modernizing platform. He has no authority”.
Although CLP nominations do not have a direct bearing on the outcome of the leadership contest, they do give an indication of where party members’ support lies.
Ms Kendall’s allies said her rivals betrayed their own woes by urging her to step down, which she would never do.
“That’s why I joined the party and why I’m not going to stand by quietly when some are trying to turn us into that unelectable party because that’s not going to deliver”.
In a rare intervention in recent UK politics, David Miliband, who was narrowly beaten by his brother Ed in the 2010 leadership contest, predicted that ordinary Labour members would reject Corbyn’s approach. What upset me (and many of my friends) most during the last campaign was how dismissive some commentators sympathetic to Labour were towards the Green Party, the SNP, and even the LibDems.
Tony Blair issued a stark warning to the party not to repeat the mistakes of the 1980s which consigned the party to 18 years in opposition.
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Asked if Mr Blair was right to intervene in the campaign, Mr Burnham said: “He is perfectly entitled to make his views known…”
