Ahead of the head-to-head meeting in Cardiff, Smith reiterated his warning that Labour risks splitting if Corbyn remains leader.
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There have been some critics who have said that the Labour leader has massive core support, but few polices, well this afternoon he plans to change that.
“I tried to talk to Jeremy in March and he was very rude to me”, said Smith.
Mr Smith said he would enact “the most radical programme. since the great Labour government of 1945” and to lead the party back to power.
Additionally, the Labour party has continued to grow – it is now bigger than it has been in 40 years, with more than 600,000 members. I think we have moved on from that style of politics.
The high court will rule on Monday on whether 130,000 people who recently became Labour party members will be allowed to vote in the upcoming leadership election, after a lawyer representing a group of them argued they had been unfairly excluded from the process.
Mr Corbyn spoke after ally and shadow chancellor John McDonnell accused Mr Smith of trying to “blackmail” the party by threatening to split it if he loses the September 24 poll.
“We need to be more than radical: we need to be credible; we need to look and sound like people that the country can trust”, Smith said, citing polls that show Corbyn’s personal ratings lag far behind May’s, even among some people who voted for the party in the general election a year ago.
We shouldn’t be going into a leadership election saying, “Vote for me or some of my supporters will split the party”.
The members denied a vote have been seen as likely to be more supportive of the incumbent, Jeremy Corbyn.
Many saw the Brexit vote as a wake-up call, after millions of disenchanted voters in Labour’s traditional northern English heartlands defied their MPs to vote to leave the EU.
“I want us to be looked at by the country as a credible, respected opposition and a Labour government in waiting”, he said.
“I want us to put a party together that does take it to the Tories”.
She said: “The whole point of expediting the case is so that if we do win, the excluded members can be on the voting lists before they are finalised on August 8”.
The main thing the pair agreed on was that the party was in trouble.
However, Mr Smith repeatedly stressed he did not think Mr Corbyn would be able to win an election and deliver on his promises to fight inequality.
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The victor, chosen by party members, registered supporters and members of affiliated groups such as trade unions, will be announced on Saturday 24 September.
