With the polls having closed earlier Wednesday, September 21, the Chippenham native remains the strong favorite to win, with pundits assuring his supporters that the possibility of him losing to opponent Owen Smith is very slim.
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Writing in the New Statesman, Mr Miliband said the Labour Party was “at the margins” of politics as a matter of choice.
“That is only half the story”.
“Stop obsessing about the party issues and devote your considerable talent and experience to the one thing that really matters – the fast-approaching catastrophe of Brexit”, pleaded commentator Polly Toynbee in The Guardian, a newspaper read by many Labour supporters.
On Mr Corbyn’s foreign policy, he said: “The half-hearted message about Europe is a betrayal of millions of working people”.
Mr Smith said he entered the race to be leader because he wanted “to see a Labour government again” as he warned of the “untold damage” that could be done by the Conservative administration’s “hard right agenda”.
“Nationalisation cannot be the answer to everything; anti-austerity speeches cannot explain everything; corporate taxation cannot pay for everything”.
Coinciding with Mr Miliband’s onslaught on his foreign policy, Mr Corbyn has called for the appointment of a “minister for peace” and a “minister for disarmament”.
“It doesn’t add up”.
“I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve already done and will continue to do for the Labour Party and the people we seek to serve”.
Mr Miliband said it is “disastrous” that people are branded “closet Tories” or “Tory Lite” if they disagree with Mr Corbyn.
If other former shadow cabinet members follow Mr Smith’s lead and refuse to take senior positions Mr Corbyn will struggle to challenge claims he leads a divided parliamentary party.
Last night a frontbencher in Mr Corbyn’s team Barry Gardiner said that Labour MPs who refuse to unite behind the leader should be “out of the party” in an interview with The House magazine.
However, challenger Mr Smith, former shadow work and pensions secretary, has said a victory for Mr Corbyn would only divide the party.
In a statement following the close of polls, Mr Corbyn said: ‘As far as I am concerned, the slate will be wiped clean this weekend.
I suppose having the debate might expose a split in their party, which would be a bad shame because we all know how very united they are on everything else. “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”.
Praising Mr Smith, she said: “He’s younger and I think he’s more media savvy and I think he’s more flexible about the way he would conduct the leadership, with a bigger emphasis on winning the election”.
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Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee has put off a decision on MPs’ demand to be allowed to elect members of Mr Corbyn’s shadow cabinet.
