Sebastian Payne

Liz Kendall’s campaign still confident of getting 35 MPs

Despite her early entry, Liz Kendall’s leadership campaign is failing to keep up with rivals when it comes to noise and backers. Yvette Cooper and Andy Burnham have emerged as the early favourites, while some are wondering if Kendall can persuade the necessary 35 MPs to back her — particularly if Tristram Hunt runs and splits the moderate vote. But I understand her campaign remains confident they will make the cut.

‘The current direction of travel is that the final ballot will be Burnham, Kendall and Cooper,’ says a Labour source. ‘But, in the PLP nothing is set in stone — not even Ed stone’. The official nominating process does not begin until June 9, so there is plenty of time for people to change their minds.

While Andy Burnham has been buoyed by the endorsement of Dan Jarvis, Kendall has received a new campaign aide in the form of Mark Ferguson, who was until yesterday the editor of the LabourList

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