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Labour unelectable under Jeremy Corbyn, says David Miliband

With Mr Corbyn installed by bookies as all-but-certain favourite to retain his leadership, Mr Smith came close to conceding defeat by saying that he will not accept a place in his shadow cabinet.

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Corbyn himself sounded confident about the election results, set to be released before midday on Saturday.

Murray, MP for Edinburgh South, told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland: “I think Jeremy has to make sure he does wipe the slate clean if that is his intention”.

A Jewish lawmaker in the British Parliament said she will bring a bodyguard to her Labour Party’s conference out of fear that she will be attacked.

However Mr Miliband, a former Foreign Secretary, took a different approach and argued Mr Corbyn’s ideas are wrong, in an article for the left-wing New Statesman magazine.

“We lost, I think, a large group of people who were Jeremy Corbyn supporters”.

“I don’t think the battle about the future of the Labour Party ends on Saturday, by any manner or means”, he said.

But in a further sign of the tensions at the top of the Labour party, Mr Corbyn rejected deputy leader Tom Watson’s calls for the return of the electoral college system for electing Labour leaders. Maybe if they can hold on to the feeling of being ashamed of their own party, feeling “meh” about the new leader won’t feel so bad after all.

Corbyn, however, is predicted to gain less support than the 59.5% he managed to get in the previous round a year ago.

He also said he was willing to “wipe the slate clean” with those Labour colleagues who have attacked him in recent months, but his comments will dismay many former shadow ministers who quit the Labour frontbench in protest at his leadership style since he was first elected a year ago.

Mr Corbyn told the BBC he had had “an terrible lot of calls” over the past few days from Labour MPs who wanted the party to “come together” after the leadership contest is over.

“Together we are very, very strong”, Corbyn told supporters at his final campaign rally on Tuesday, also meeting volunteers making last-minute calls for party members to cast their postal ballots.

“If I am re-elected leader, I will reach out to and work with all Labour MPs to form a broad and effective opposition to this divisive and floundering Tory government”.

But he also attacked his domestic policy too, saying “nationalisation can not be the answer to everything”, and that “It wouldn’t work” and “people are not stupid”.

“If we are out of power for another 10 years we are talking about a generation”.

She added: “My heart and soul is still very much with what he stands for”. He was reported to have been suspended as a party member, though he has denied this indeed occurred.

“Our party is at a crossroads, and the choice we face is between renewing our party to pursue unity and power, or satisfying ourselves with ongoing division and opposition”, he said.

Mr Corbyn added his hopes the “neoliberal agenda” of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan was coming to an end and said: ‘This is historical justice time’.

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The unprecedented advice sent to Labour officials and stewards ahead of the conference also includes an emergency hotline they can ring if they are threatened or harassed.

Ed and David Miliband