Is there anyone in Labour who can stop Corbyn?

Dissecting Mr Corbyn’s agenda including his “really bad economics” and claiming a victory for him would split the party, she added that electing Labour’s first woman leader and Prime Minister was much more “radical” than yet again having white men as leader and deputy.

Mr Blair’s latest intervention came as Labour confirmed the possible total electorate for the leadership vote is 610,753 after the deadline for registering passed.

He alluded to that in the newspaper appeal: “It doesn’t matter whether you’re on the left, right or centre of the party, whether you used to support me or hate me”. But please understand the danger we’re in’.

A number of Corbyn supporters are anxious about the possibility they will be excluded after receiving notifications of further checks or hearing nothing back after trying to sign up. I think it’s great that we have such an able selection of candidates.

Mr Corbyn also expressed his support for devolution, saying he believed the Welsh Government needed more powers to develop the economy in order to improve living standards of the poorest in Wales.

The rule change introduced by Mr Miliband has led to fears of “entryism” but the party insists it has robust procedures to identify and stop such votes being cast.

The metaphors couldn’t be stronger: Mr Blair goes on to say the party is not only walking “over the cliff’s edge”, but one with “jagged rocks below”.

That would allow them to back left-wing candidate Jeremy Corbyn over Leicester West MP Liz Kendall, Andy Burnham, and Yvette Cooper.

“…the alternative is that he doesn’t flop, that he captures the zeitgeist and people get wildly excited across the country, not just the union members or the people who are signing up in the last few days”. Speaking on Thursday, the shadow minister told BBC Radio 4’s “World At One” that establishment figures bemoaning Corbyn’s ascendency were misreading “the mood” of the members.

She has recognised the scale of Labour’s defeat.

IAN GILBERT Labour parliamentry candidate for Rochford and Southend East, deputy leader of Southend Council and chairman of Rochford and Southend East Labour Party.

In an interview with the Independent on Sunday, Corbyn indicated his support for restoring some version of Clause Four to the party’s constitution – the commitment to public ownership of “the means of production, distribution and exchange” – which was significantly changed by Tony Blair 20 years ago.