Labour leadership contest: the state of the race so far

The candidates to replace Jeremy Corbyn have been busily launching their campaigns and giving political interviews this weekend, with the party deciding the rules for the contest at a meeting of its ruling National Executive Committee tomorrow. There are still a couple of candidates left to launch their official campaigns, including Rebecca Long-Bailey, who appears to have disappeared to a location far more secretive than any prime ministerial holiday, and Ian Lavery. But here’s what we know so far about each of the candidates:

Keir Starmer: considered the frontrunner in the contest, the shadow Brexit secretary launched his campaign last night with a moving video. It was moving in the sense that it offered Starmer’s own personal story and a sense of why he is in politics, but also because it quite obviously moved him to the left of where he’s sat for the past few years. It seems he thinks he will end up fighting a centrist candidate such as Jess Phillips or Lisa Nandy, and is going for the members who can’t back either of those.