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“The Labour party needs to be an effective opposition more than ever – both in Westminster and in our streets – and I believe that suspending or delaying the leadership election would only undermine our ability to do that”.

He made the remarks in an interview last summer with the Moscow-funded news channel Russian Federation Today.

Opinion polls suggest Ms Cooper is locked in a battle with Mr Burnham to emerge as the main challenger to Mr Corbyn, with Liz Kendall trailing in fourth place.

A string of warnings that a Corbyn victory could split the party or turn it into a mere pressure group have emerged in recent days from former Labour politicians including Tony Blair, Neil Kinnock, Jack Straw, Gordon Brown, and – mostly recently – David Miliband.

What is more distressing is the unclear nature of whether these complaints are legitimate – or represent a last-ditch attempt to stop the left-winger Jeremy Corbyn becoming leader.

Mr Corbyn is now the favourite to win from Yvette Cooper and Andy Burnham, with Ms Kendall consistently coming in fourth place in polls.

Mr Corbyn’s rivals have voiced concern over the motives of tens of thousands of people who rushed to join Labour as full members or £3 supporters to get a vote in the leadership contest.

Andy Burnham used a keynote speech in Manchester today to try to woo the left-wing supporters of Labour-leadership race favourite Jeremy Corbyn.

He spoke from experience about the grief and heartbreak of losing elections and said he understood why people felt hurt and fearful of runaway train of global capitalism.

The MP led the Labour team in the European Parliament before entering Westminster and he served as a minister at the Wales Office.

Mr Burnham has the support of the Welsh government’s Communities Minister Lesley Griffiths, who will chair his question-and-answer session with party members in Wrexham on Sunday.

In a sentence of admirable chutzpah, Lehal admits that “the truth is the other frontrunner for leader – Jeremy Corbyn – has got thousands of his supporters to register to vote”.

According to the YouGov survey for The Times, the left-wing backbencher has nearly doubled his lead over closest rival Andy Burnham – despite numerous Labour figures lining up to discredit his leadership bid.

However, a spokesman confirmed that Mr Corbyn would seek to open up a discussion about “public ownership objectives for the 21st century” – including the railways – if he won the race to succeed Ed Miliband.

Amid concerns that non-Labour supporters have infiltrated the ballot, it’s emerged 1,200 members or supporters of another party have already been excluded from voting in the contest, including hundreds who stood against Labour in local or national elections. Ex-chief Ed...