Ward called for support on the grounds of Corbyn’s policies and to signal a move to the left and against austerity in the party.
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“And it’s advice that is this: we are not scarred so much that we won’t say Labour should play its part where it’s justified, but I think people would expect me to learn the lessons of the last decade and proceed with caution and that’s what I will do”.
It is thought that around 190,000 of the 390,000 people who are eligible to vote in the leadership election have signed up since the party’s general election defeat in May.
The popularity of Mr Corbyn’s campaign has sparked warnings from the other candidates, Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall, about the party moving to the left.
She pledged to tackle pro-boycott voices within Labour and said she would oppose delegitimisation of Israel. “It frankly means ABC, Anyone But Corbyn”.
Johnson also chanced his arm by resurrecting Keir Hardie to deploy him against the “hard left” intolerance of Corbyn and his supporters, casting the Labour Party founder member as “eschewing class warfare” and “inspired by Methodism more than Marxism”.
Those who have ignored Labour grassroots voters and potential supporters in favour of constructing their own straw men to explain a steady reduction in turnout and vote share can not understand that Corbyn is offering something radically different from the old jaded Establishment orthodoxy.
On the prospect of Mr Corbyn becoming leader, the Rutherglen MSP said: “I’ve looked closely at Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign and policies and I’m not convinced the agenda he’s offering is one that will take Labour forward”.
Senior figures within the Labour establishment from the Blair and Brown era have been increasingly panicked in recent weeks about the prospect of a Corbyn victory.
The other two candidates for Labour’s top job, Andy Burnham and Yvette Cooper, have both made the case for Britain to stay in the EU.
However, Cardiff Central MP Jo Stevens said it was a “proper argument to have”, saying there was “overwhelming support” for the public ownership of the railways. Speaking in central London, Corbyn said he would restore the educational maintenance allowance for college students, allow housing benefit for under 21s, scrap university tuition fees, bring back student grants and introduce properly paid apprenticeship schemes as well as reducing the voting age to 16.
Mr Corbyn was also caught up in a controversy over Stephen Sizer, the vicar disciplined by the Church of England in February over using his website to link to conspiracy theories that Israel was responsible for 9/11. His opposition is, as a weather forecaster would say, fair to moderate and really Tory Lite. “It got me going, but I’ve always had this thing about unpaid internships because of it”, he said.
It suggests he has a 32% lead over Mr Burnham, up from 17% in YouGov’s previous poll conducted last month.
Alastair Campbell, who was Tony Blair’s communications director, appealed to Labour supporters to sign up before tomorrow’s (wedy) deadline so they could vote for “anyone but Corbyn“. This election is being fought under rules that were agreed by the whole party a year ago.
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They may lose in elections, but they have a direct line to voters’ consciousness to state, without fear of contradiction, that Corbyn’s victory will result in long-term electoral success for the Tories.
