Dan Jarvis, the Labour MP who disappointed many party activists by refusing to stand for the party leadership, has encouraged Andy Burnham’s campaign by endorsing the Shadow Health secretary.
A buzz had grown about Jarvis’s own leadership qualities but he disappointed supporters as he decided that his family commitments meant he could not stand for leader at present.
Chuka Umunna, who was believed to be a strong and potential contestant, withdrew his application from the contest amongst speculations, and is believed to be now eyeing the role of Shadow Foreign Secretary. The loss of his father in a mysterious car crash which friends fear was a 'political assassination' may help to explain Chuka Umunna's startling decision to quit the Labour leadership race, wrote the Daily Mail. He bowed out of the contest last week claiming he was not ready to put himself and his family through the intense scrutiny that comes with the position. And it is thought his fierce protection of the women in his life could have stemmed from the fact that he was forced to become the 'man of the family' aged just 13.
Burnham is believed to have more than 70 nominations in the parliamentary Labour party and the breadth of his support is beginning to make it difficult for some of the other candidates such as Tristam Hunt, the shadow education secretary, and even Liz Kendall, the shadow health minister, to gather the 35 nominations from MPs they need to get on the ballot paper.
The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, also contesting the leadership, on Tuesday said that she would restore party links with business if elected as a leader, and has thought to have secured as many as 50 nominations. Many other MPs have said they will not nominate at this stage and would wait to see the candidates perform at the June hustings. She distanced herself from several of Ed Miliband's business policies, saying Labour was perceived as being "anti-growth and ultimately anti-worker". Labour must consult more closely with business leaders and focus on science and hi-tech jobs, she added.
Harriet Harman, Labour's interim leader said she would like to “let the public in” to help choose a successor to the Labour party.
Two leading figures from the Blair government, Lord Hutton, the former defence secretary, and Lady Morgan, a former Downing Street adviser, reportedly have said it would be wrong if the threshold of 35 nominations from MPs meant only Cooper and Burnham made the ballot paper.
