PETER HITCHENS: Where political parties combine patriotism, a strong but just welfare state, good education, firm policing and tough defence, they tend to win elections.

Labour's Jess Phillips was forced to suspend her key aide Salma Hamid (pictured) on Friday for posting 'offensive' tweets including a description of Israel as a 'murderer', between 2014 and 2016.

The shadow business secretary hit out at a scatter-gun approach that saw people and resources wasted on seats that were unwinnable, at the expense of marginal seats lost to the Conservatives.

Journalists poring over her policies and private life to glean a better understanding of the would-be leader have, until now, been split over whether to hyphenate her surname.

Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey said she would unveil a package of radical constitutional measures if she won the race to succeed Jeremy Corbyn.

Florence Eshelomi and Abena Oppong-Asare both took their London seats for the first time at December's general election. But they have been left less than impressed so far.

Wigan MP Ms Nandy, who narrowly came third behind Ms Long-Bailey in the first round of the leadership campaign, is said to have impressed Mr McCluskey in a face-to-face meeting.

Yvette Cooper said backing Sir Keir Starmer to replace Jeremy Corbyn was a 'hard decision' because she has 'always argued it's time we had a Labour woman leader'.

Labour's membership has reportedly grown by 60,000 people since the party's devastating general election defeat.

The ex-West Bromwich East MP will write The House, a tale of 'ambition and failure, trust and betrayal' after signing up with publisher Little, Brown.

HENRY DEEDES: Andrew Bowie, my boy, you took the words right out of my mouth, calling out across the Commons in your genteel Scots brogue.

Two of Jeremy Corbyn's top allies have urged northern working class voters to join Labour and prevent southern Remainers from deciding the party's leadership contest.

Sir Keir Starmer today refused to say whether he is politically closer to Tony Blair or Jeremy Corbyn as he said Labour must learn lessons from its last four general election defeats and not just 2019.

Rebecca Long-Bailey has hinted that she took cannabis during a trip to Amsterdam as she prepares to formally launch her Labour leadership bid this evening.

Emily Thornberry today vowed to be an 'unashamedly socialist' Labour leader if she takes over from Jeremy Corbyn as she also pledged to quit if she did badly in the top job.

In a defiant riposte, she hinted that her concerns had been 'misrepresented' in a bid to damage her bid to succeed Jeremy Corbyn.

Jess Phillips acknowledged it was 'very difficult' for people to stand back from the contest, but warned it would be 'embarrassing' if Labour elected another man to its top job.

The Conservatives now have a massive 17-point advantage over Labour, according to the latest research by Opinium - up from around 12 points at the election.

Labour's membership has grown by more than 100,000 since the party's devastating general election loss.

Labour is believed to have stepped in after the PM ripped up the convention that former Speakers like John Bercow go to the House of Lords after stepping down from the chair.

The grassroots group has taken aim at moderate MPs under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, leading to allegations it was acting in his best interests rather than the party's.

Jeremy Corbyn is said to have put forward the reviled former Commons custodian for a seat in the upper chamber, as well as some of his closest left-wing cronies.

Jeremy Corbyn is said to have put forward the former Commons custodian for a seat in the upper chamber, as well as some of his closest left-wing cronies.

Alan Mardghum, a former pitworker who now runs the annual Durham Miners' Gala, said he would 'rather be found dead in a ditch than invite them' to the July event.

Emily Thornberry was grilled by Piers Morgan over Labour 'sneering' at rich and successful people as he asked her if she is proud of becoming a 'multi-millionaire'.

A YouGov poll found 71 per cent of them have a favourable view of Mr Corbyn. Second on 70 per cent was Ed Miliband, another election loser, while John Smith came third on 67 per cent.

Lisa Nandy and Piers Morgan had a blazing row over the press coverage of Meghan Markle this morning as the Labour leadership candidate said the ITV presenter had never faced 'prejudice'.

Allies of Rebecca Long-Bailey have demanded Sir Keir Starmer pull out of the Labour leadership race to make way for a woman to take over from Jeremy Corbyn.

The Wigan MP used a media interview this morning to claim the 'consensus that Thatcher built lasted all the way through the New Labour years' under Mr Blair and then Gordon Brown.

The leadership candidate said there are 'really experienced, amazing people' in the parliamentary Labour party and that 'we've got to have that good mix of talent in there'.

The Wigan MP said the beleaguered party should be focusing on getting rid of Tory MPs rather than their own following Jeremy Corbyn's humiliating defeat to Boris Johnson in December's election.

Members of Unite, the second largest union in Britain, backed the shadow business secretary after a ballot this afternoon, as well as Richard Burgon for deputy leader.

Footage shows shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon arguing with shadow Equalities Minister Dawn Butler as they addressed potential voters in Leeds.

Mrs Bercow, a Labour supporter, privately urged Mr Corbyn to send her husband to the Lords because the Tories would refuse, Commons sources said.

The Unite the union boss said critics of the shadow business secretary 'would be better to clear out now' amid reports some are planning to quit Labour if she wins the contest.

Jeremy Corbyn delivered an apparent endorsement of Rebecca Long-Bailey at a retirement party for former MP Ronnie Campbell over the weekend.

Rebecca Long-Bailey told an event she had been left in a 'state of shock' by the scale of their defeat on December 12, when Labour handed Boris Johnson an 80-seat Tory majority.

Six weeks after the dramatic election victory, YouGov research put the Conservatives on 49 per cent, far ahead of their main rivals on 29 per cent.

Rebecca Long-Bailey said she would not stand in the way of another referendum on Scottish independence as she clashed with her fellow Labour leadership candidates.

Analysis of the party's 80-seat defeat - its worst since 1935 - blamed Brexit policy, attacks by the media and even the lingering impact of Tony Blair's leadership in northern seats it lost.

The left-wing candidate to replace Jeremy Corbyn told an event at the weekend how she worked until 3am in 2016 after the resignation of Robert Marris left the party's treasury team in the lurch.

Tony Blair today said the UK must 'make the best of' Brexit as he blamed Jeremy Corbyn and the 'mind-boggling ineptitude' of the Labour leadership for facilitating Britain's split from Brussels.

Daniel Janner, whose father Greville was caught up in the false claims, has told Mr Corbyn that honouring the ex-Labour deputy leader would be 'wrong and inappropriate'.

Former Cabinet minister Lord Mandelson swiped that left-winger Jeremy Corbyn had helped deliver a 'stonking' majority for the Tories last month.

ANDREW PIERCE: As he plods painfully through his six questions, there is an embarrassed silence on the Labour benches. Some Labour MPs say there is a way out.

Boris Johnson today accused Jeremy Corbyn of a 'grotesque failure' to understand UK efforts to tackle climate change as the PM shrugged off criticism from a sacked ex-minister.

DAVID LEAKEY: I believe it is my public duty to say it would be a scandal if Baron 'Bully' Bercow were ever to take a taxpayer-funded seat for life on the red benches of the House of Lords.

The shadow justice secretary, who is standing for deputy leader, said he wanted to change internal rules to allow members to have a vote before it backs military action - even if in Government

A special Lords vetting committee is set to meet on Tuesday over a raft of peers proposed by the Labour leader and Boris Johnson.

The National Hemp Service was going to sell products such as clothes, made from a legal strain of cannabis, from a cafe in North London. But it never opened and was soon liquidated.