Yvette Cooper snaps up six more MP supporters for her leadership campaign

Six more Labour MPs have endorsed Yvette Cooper as leader: Coffee House has the names exclusively.

Emily Thornberry
Ian Austin
Jim Cunningham
Karen Buck
Lyn Brown
Steve McCabe

They’re an interesting mix, ranging from Londoners like Karen Buck, Lyn Brown and Emily Thornberry to those with seats in the Midlands, such as Ian Austin, Jim Cunningham and Steve McCabe, and helps the Cooper campaign’s claim to have nationwide support, rather than backing from MPs in certain parts of the country.

It is also interesting that Buck, who served as Ed Miliband’s PPS towards the end of the last Parliament, has backed Cooper, along with Austin, who was exposed as one of the MPs who had tried to complain about Miliband’s leadership.

The Shadow Home Secretary will be announcing more supporters in the coming days, with three weeks to go until nominations close. Her team are not yet discussing the possibility of lending another candidate nominations, I understand, simply because that deadline is still sufficiently far away for someone else to garner supporters themselves.