However, there was also a setback for Mr Corbyn as the NEC changed some rules for the contest, so people can only vote if they have been a member for at least six months.
Advertisement
Mr Corbyn had made clear that violence and bullying “should not be part of our politics” and any Labour member found responsible for such actions would be expelled, he said.
Of current Labour supporters, about the same number think Mr Corbyn is capable of being PM as think he isn’t.
Relatively unknown until whispers about his ambitions reached the media last week, the Pontypridd MP, who resigned from the shadow cabinet last month, will seek nominations from MPs and MEPs to run against Corbyn and Angela Eagle.
“I’m in this contest to win it and that’s what I intend to do”.
The branch is the biggest in the country with about 6,000 members – and more than 600 voted in the elections at the AGM which took place in three sittings to accommodate the large turnout.
“There’s a lot of work now to do”, he told Sky News.
Smith said he had chose to stand after seeing a “dramatic collapse of faith and confidence in Jeremy” over the last couple of weeks.
Supporters of Jeremy Corbyn were elected to key posts at the local party’s annual general meeting (AGM) at City College, in Pelham Street, Brighton, on Saturday (9 July). If the case is heard, Foster said it would be heard “within days”.
“And then in the end on the doorstep, just not resonating with Labour voters, let alone wider voters”.
“Mr Smith will position himself to Angela Eagle’s left, stressing support for Mr Corbyn’s anti-austerity policies, and believes this enables him to appeal to an apparently radical membership”, says the BBC political correspondent, Iain Watson.
Born in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, 55-year-old Ms Eagle was one of the first MPs to come out as gay.
The union also overwhelmingly voiced support for Mr Corbyn as he faces attempts to try to oust him.
“The NEC has agreed that as the incumbent leader Jeremy Corbyn will go forward onto the ballot without requiring nominations from the Parliamentary Labor Party and the European Parliamentary Labor Party”, a spokesman said. Join as a registered supporter. I think we now need a real debate about the future direction of our party.
For a few days at least, all three parties who secured the most votes in the general election previous year – representing four in five Brits altogether – were undergoing concurrent leadership races.
Ms Eagle borrowed Theresa May’s famous 2002 description of the Conservatives as she called for action from the Labour leadership on “abuse, misogyny, homophobia (and) anti-Semitism” affecting the party.
Advertisement
“We have low wages and a housing crisis, young people find it next to impossible to get a decent place to live”.
