Yvette Cooper is trying to distance herself both from ‘Taliban New Labour’ and Andy Burnham

Yvette Cooper is attempting to put as much distance as possible between her and the anonymous ‘Taliban New Labour’ comments. In an article for the Huffington Post, Cooper’s campaign chair Shabana Mahmood says there is no place for negative briefing in the Labour leadership contest. Mahmood sets out two promises from the Cooper campaign:

‘If anyone is speaking on behalf of the campaign, they will do so explicitly on the record. There will be no unattributed negative briefings about other candidates because that’s not the kind of politics Yvette has ever wanted to champion

‘If anyone else is speaking to you and claiming to do so on Yvette’s behalf and wants to criticise opponents – you can take it from me that they do not speak for the campaign or Yvette – and if she or I get to hear about it they will have lost our trust and our respect. I hope that all of the candidates will join me in making that pledge.’