The Birmingham Yardley MP said she 'would have absolutely no problem in confronting Donald Trump' as she launched a bid to become the Labour party's next leader this evening.

Labour leadership hopeful Jess Phillips has backtracked after she suggested she would campaign to take the UK back into the European Union if she takes over from Jeremy Corbyn.

The 63-year-old attended today's meeting of the party's ruling National Executive Committee (NEC), which is due to decide on the rules and format of the battle to replace Jeremy Corbyn.

Labour's ruling national executive committee made the announcement yesterday, setting the fee for those to become registered supporters in time to vote in the leadership contest at £25.

HENRY DEEDES: General Soleimani's death, Corbyn informed the House, was a classic example of American aggression. Once again, the US was making the wrong calls in the Middle East.

The left-winger, who is trailing sixth and last in the race to replace Jeremy Corbyn, made the suggestion in a campaign speech in London.

Some 42 per cent of more than 5,000 people surveyed by YouGov gave the outgoing leader a zero rating after he led his party to an election humiliation in December.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The outgoing Labour leader, whose public appearances have been limited since he lost the election in December, was in the chamber for an update on the impact of Storm Ciara.

Four men and two women, will today sit in judgment in an anonymous office in the Whitehall edifice that houses the Treasury on the most contentious set of peerage nominations for a generation.

A survey of more than 10,000 people found that more than half of traditional Labour voters who defected to other parties in December did so to prevent the opposition leader becoming PM.

HENRY DEEDES: The Leader of the Opposition kicked off by attacking this week's deportation of foreign nationals to Jamaica, citing the case of a black boy deported for a drugs charge.

Sir Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Lisa Nandy and Emily Thornberry were on the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme this morning and were taken to task by 'Jay', a former Labour voter.

Lachlan Stuart, a personal friend of Corbyn who co-wrote the Labour manifesto, said Ms Long Bailey was 'not fit to lead' because of her views on trans.

The outgoing leader, who led Labour to its worst election defeat since the 1930s in December, spoke as he toured areas affected by flooding in Wales this afternoon.

Harvey Proctor has lodged a formal request that the former deputy Labour leader be prevented from entering the House of Lords over his role in the botched Operation Midland.

Sir Keir Starmer has warned Labour activists the party risks being out of power for a generation unless it unites and fights the Tories.

Sir Keir is predicted to get 53 per cent of votes in the first round of counting which would be enough for him to surpass the 50 per cent threshold needed to win the race to replace Jeremy Corbyn.

HENRY DEEDES: Tottering into the chamber at that very moment was Priti Patel. As the Home Secretary made her way awkwardly to her seat, Jezza's eyes...

GUY ADAMS: Trevor Phillips has fought racism all his life, while the party under Jeremy Corbyn has been accused of anti-Semitism and is being investigated by the EHRC.

The party said a special conference due to be held on April 4 had been cancelled, along with remaining hustings events, with a spokeswoman saying a scaled-back event' would replace it.

HENRY DEEDES: As Sir Lindsay Hoyle called time on Prime Minister's Questions, Jeremy Corbyn uncrossed his legs, wrinkled his nose and breathed a little sigh of relief.