Labour leadership: Morgan rejects ‘hard left’ Corbyn

Noon Wednesday: Deadline closes for ordinary Labour backers to sign up as registered supporters so they can vote in leadership contest.

He opposes the policy of austerity cuts and has promised to restore clause IV of Labour’s constitution, revised by Blair 20 years ago, which would mean re-introducing nationalization or the “common ownership” of industry.

“I will be using my second and third preferences and I would urge others to do the same because I don’t want to see our party go back to the politics of eighties, just being a party of protest”.

“We have checked the names against people who either stood against Labour in the elections in May or nominated candidates to stand against us”.

John Lehal, the campaign’s chief, has sent out an email to Burnham supporters asking them to get as many of their mates to sign up to vote for the People’s Andy. That the former PM waited until after registration had closed to act shows he recognises the danger that his words could only galvanise the left. “It is a moment for a rugby tackle, if that were possible”. We have looked through the lists of people applying and there are only a handful who we suspect are looking to influence the result because they do not support the party.

Jeremy Corbyn is set to triumph in the Labour leadership election in the first round of voting, according to the latest YouGov poll.

In new comments, Mr Blair said the election to replace Ed Miliband as leader is now about whether Labour “remains a party of government”, as he noted protest movements agitate against those who govern rather than change the country.

The shadow health minister insisted she would not bow to calls for her to quit the contest to help a more popular rival prevent left-winger Jeremy Corbyn converting his poll lead into victory on September 12.

Meanwhile outspoken backbencher Simon Danczuk, has called for the leadership race to be halted, alleging the vote is being infiltrated by non-party members who want to skew the vote.

Mr Corbyn’s main policies include public control of the railways and utilities, a living wage, and state action on housing.

Recently the other two Labour leadership hopefuls, surprise front-runner Jeremy Corbyn and Liz Kendall, also campaigned in North Wales. There are also rumours another former prime minister, Gordon Brown, could enter the fray in the days to come.