Keir Starmer has nominated Andy Burnham to be Labour’s next leader.
The former Director of Public Prosecutions is the most prominent of newly elected Labour MPs and even faced call for him to stand for leader following Ed Miliband’s resignation.
Starmer joins 64 other MPs who have publicly endorsed Burnham, which include the shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn, who came out last night for him.
So far Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall have received the 35 nominations they need to make it onto the leadership ballot. It’s unclear whether the two other people standing – Jeremy Corbyn and Mary Creagh – will reach this threshold.
Last night two more MPs came forward to back anti-austerity candidate Corbyn. Chi Onwurah, MP for Newcastle Central, and Catherine West, newly-elected MP for Horsney and Wood Green announced they were nominating him.
Onwurah explained that although she does not share all of Corbyn’s views she had received overwhelming feedback from her constituents that he should be on the ballot.
The running total of each of the candidates nominations is:
Andy Burnham – 65
Yvette Cooper – 56
Jeremy Corbyn – 17
Mary Creagh – 8
Liz Kendall – 40
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