“I am determined to win it”, she said.
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The ruling will come as a major blow to Labour MPs desperate to overthrow their leader and will fuel warnings that the party is heading for a split.
Former Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Owen Smith has made a decision to run to become Labour leader, it has emerged.
Labour’s National Executive Committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday to decide the rules that will govern the leadership contest.
Corbyn said he was “delighted” with the NEC’s decision.
“We alone can hold this right wing Tory (Conservative) government to account and then replace it by winning a general election”, Eagle said.
Both Angela Eagle and Owen Smith have revealed hopes of removing Corbyn.
Foster said he did not vote for Corbyn in the last leadership election but said the rules should not be bent to a particular political circumstance, and should be arbitrated by a neutral body.
The Mercury has also been passed an email circulated by Labour Leicester city councillor Patrick Kitterick urging his 51 colleagues to sign a letter acknowledging Mr Corbyn’s “overwhelming democratic mandate”.
She said: “This is not the new politics, it is the old politics I fought in the 1980s, when people like John McDonnell and Ken Livingstone were in leadership role”.
Mr Corbyn has publicly condemned intimidation and abuse of his opponents within the party, adding that he had faced much abuse himself.
“This is the end of the Labour Party, nothing more or less than that … the unions have destroyed the Labour Party”, he said.
“I’m glad Labour’s NEC has come to a decision”.
The NEC has been presented with conflicting legal advice over Mr Corbyn’s position, with Labour-commissioned analysis stating that he will need the nominations, but Unite-backed advice from Michael Mansfield QC concluding that he does not because he is a sitting leader. If Mr Corbyn, who retains strong support among the rank-and-file members, is re-elected, the party may split.
Passions are running high in the party, and a brick was thrown through the window of Eagle’s constituency office.
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He admitted it would be preferable if there was only one challenger to Mr Corbyn in the leadership race, saying: “Ideally, we would have one candidate, and the clarity of that one candidate versus Jeremy Corbyn”.
