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.

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.

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.

Boris Johnson today risked a major row with Donald Trump after he claimed the UK's extradition arrangements with the US are 'imbalanced'.

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.

There has been 'a noticeable pick-up' in the housing market since Boris Johnson defeated Labour's Jeremy Corbyn in December, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said.

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.

Rebecca Long-Bailey revealed her plans for the former Labour leader at a meeting in south-east London, and said that she 'loves' him. She is trailing Keir Starmer in the race to be the next Labour leader.

More than half of Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs) which backed Mr Corbyn in the leadership contest in 2015 have endorsed soft-left candidate Sir Keir Starmer this year.

Labour leadership challenger Lisa Nandy has said she would vote to abolish the monarchy at a referendum while rival Rebecca Long-Bailey refused to name a former party leader she admired.

Lisa Nandy today declared she would be willing to serve in a shadow cabinet led by either of her Labour leadership rivals if she fails to pull off a shock upset.

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.

The former prime minister used a speech this morning to mark the creation of the Labour Party to criticise the current state of the political vehicle which he led to three election victories.

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.

Beauty blogger Nikki Lilly, 15, from London, appeared on Loose Women today where she said pupils should be taught the 'correct' way to use social media in schools.

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 Starmer today hinted he could campaign to bring back EU freedom of movement at the next general election as voting began in the Labour leadership contest.

Mrs Abbott said that she would return to the Commons' backbenches irrespective of which candidate wins the race and was committed to stopping a post-Corbyn 'swerve to the right.'

Angela Rayner has launched a savage attack on Jeremy Corbyn as she suggested he had failed as Labour leader because he 'didn't command respect'.

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.

Sir Keir Starmer backed readmitting Alastair Campbell, who was kicked out by Jeremy Corbyn's allies after admitting he voted for the Liberal Democrats in European elections.

The Prime Minister found time to visit Connection at St Martins in the Fields church in London to promote his new plans to tackle the scourge of rough sleeping.

Lisa Nandy tonight blasted Sir Keir Starmer and labelled his Brexit policy a 'disaster' as she tried to salvage her Labour leadership campaign.

Jeremy Corbyn has made a plea to 'anointed' successor Rebecca Long Bailey to make him Shadow Foreign Secretary after he quits as Labour Party leader.

The rudderless party could lose 315 councillors and control of heartland cities including Sheffield under the worst-case scenario laid out for the May 7 poll.

Thousands of members of the public voted for the 150 finalists to face the judges, who included the Labour MP Carolyn Harris, Conservative MP David Warburton and journalist Ash Sarkar.

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...

Labour's 500,000-plus members want to ditch the Monarchy and deny their party has a problem with anti-Semitism, a shocking poll by YouGov has revealed.

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.

ANDREW PIERCE: In an interview with student newspaper Varsity in 2002, when he was chairman of the Labour group at Cambridge University, he backed the UK joining the euro.

The 72-year-old branded Gates and Soros 'control freaks' as he blamed them for Covid-19, which has so far killed 36 people in the UK, with the total number of cases now at 1,543.

Jeremy Corbyn and senior medical leaders tore into Boris Johnson's response as a senior ministers said they were now doing 8,000 tests a day and production would double within the next fortnight.

Seb Corbyn, the Labour leader's second son and an aide to shadow chancellor John McDonnell, is taking the precautionary measure as the pandemic sweeps the country.