Angela Eagle said she had the nominations to challenge Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn | Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images Angela Eagle: Corbyn can be blocked from leadership contest Former shadow business secretary says Labour leader needs support of MPs to stay on.

U.K. Labour MP Angela Eagle insisted Sunday that Jeremy Corbyn could be stopped from taking part in the party’s upcoming leadership contest after confirming she would launch her challenge this week.

The former shadow business secretary said she had the nominations to challenge Corbyn and urged him to stand aside for the good of the party.

Eagle, who would be the first openly gay leader of the opposition, said Corbyn had lost the confidence of Labour MPs and failed to show “effective leadership.”

She insisted that once she had triggered the leadership challenge all candidates — including Corbyn — had to get 51 nominations from MPs and MEPs to take part.

Speaking on the BBC earlier, Corbyn insisted that he was automatically on the ballot paper and did not need the support of MPs. Labour’s national executive committee will rule on the matter in an emergency meeting expected on Tuesday.

Speaking to ITV’s Robert Peston Sunday, Eagle said: “I don’t think he’s been able to communicate with the electorate and now he’s lost the confidence of the parliamentary Labour party. “He’s hiding behind a closed door denying that this is a fact. That’s not leadership.”

She added: “He will have to find nominations. I am ready to have a leadership contest and a debate with whoever is on the ballot.”

Eagle said she was “fine” whoever her opponent was, but added: “The rules are the Labour party rules.”

She said the party needed a new leader to be able to challenge the government. “This is not about splitting the Labour Party, this is about uniting the Labour Party.

“I tried over nine months to help Jeremy He’s not a bad man, but he’s not a leader. He’s lost the confidence of his parliamentary colleagues. “I think it’s important that we have a strong leadership and a healed party going forward. I’m making my declaration. It’s up to others to decide what others are doing.

“This is a battle for a united and healed opposition,” she said.