Johnson comes out in support of Miliband

Amidst the media storm around Miliband’s leadership, Alan Johnson – who in recent months has reportedly been called upon by some within the party to make a leadership bid – has once again ruled out the possibility of him challenging Miliband.

Johnson said that any challenge to Miliband’s leadership would ruin Labour’s chance of winning next May, and he told any MPs who might be considering this to “get a grip”.

Johnson also said “For the avoidance of any doubt, I have no intention of going back to frontline politics, I support Ed Miliband, I’m a candidate at the next general election, so I’ve got an interest in it and I think it’s eminently winnable. Even if I was completely despondent — as I’m not — the law of political gravity is that you do not spend two or three months of a precious six-month period up to the general election having an internal fight about who the leader should be.”

This makes him one of many prominent Labour MP – alongside the likes of Andy Burnham, Tristram Hunt and Chuka Umunna – to support Miliband despite rumours that arose earlier in the week.