Kendall, Cooper and Burnham all have perceived weaknesses to overcome

Now that Liz Kendall has enough MPs backing her to make it on to the ballot paper for the Labour Party leadership contest, the three main candidates are all starting to think about how to appeal to those party supporters who will vote for the leader. This involves contacting constituency Labour parties, trade union branches and so on in order to canvass.

Each of the three main candidates also needs to overcome a key perceived weakness. For Andy Burnham, it is that he is the trade union candidate and just a populist figure of the Left. For Yvette Cooper, it is that her experience which her supporters see as a strength is also an unpalatable link to Labour’s past, and also that she needs to set out in greater detail what she believes in. And for Kendall, it is that being a fresh face also means she is inexperienced and not ready for the demands of leading a defeated party.