Prominent backbencher Jess Phillips said she 'would have absolutely no problem in confronting Donald Trump' as she launched a bid to become the next Labour leader.

The Birmingham Yardley MP became the third candidate to enter the race alongside Emily Thornberry and Clive Lewis when she confirmed her campaign on Friday evening.

She posted a short film to Twitter with a message insisting 'politics need honest voices' while urging people to 'join me to make things better' and visit her website.

'I'm standing to be the next Labour Leader. Politics needs honest voices', Mrs Phillips said. 'Only when we are honest again, with ourselves and with the country, will we become the people who get to make the decisions. I can’t do this alone. Join me to help make things better.'

MP for Wigan, Lisa Nandy, has also announced she will stand. Ms Nandy, a critic of calls for a second referendum on Brexit, said: ‘Without what were once our Labour heartlands, we will never win power in Westminster ... I have heard you loud and clear.’

Ms Phillips, 38, launched her bid with former MP Melanie Onn in Grimsby, where she spoke to Channel 4 News about tensions in the Middle East and outgoing leader Jeremy Corbyn.

'I would have absolutely no problem in confronting Donald Trump,' she said. 'And the reality is that I actually think Donald Trump with somebody like me would respect the fact.

Jess Phillips has claimed she 'would have absolutely no problem in confronting Donald Trump' as she confirmed her Labour leadership bid

'They might not like what I was saying, but that I would tell him what I thought'.

The MP, who has only been in the Commons for five years, also discussed the 'tense situation' between the US and Iran, which was escalated today when Trump ordered an airstrike on Baghdad airport.

The Islamic Revolution Guard Corps said 10 people were killed in the strikes, including five of its members and Quds commander Qassem Soleimani.

Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy leader of Hashd al-Shaabi, was among the dead, as well as other Iraqi militia members.

'With regard to what happened today, it is harrowing', she said. 'Just as a citizen to wake up to the news that there is a possible escalation of an already tense situation between the US and Iran – what I would do if I was the Prime Minister in this situation is seek to be talking to the President of the United States to ask what the outcome of the actions.'

'Because the reason it feels reckless, the reason it feels dangerous is because the faith that we have currently in the current commander in chief is we don’t know what the plan is. What’s his plan in taking this action, what plans are there for if it escalates, what are the diplomatic plans as well as interventionist plans?

Ms Phillips announced her Labour leadership bid with a short video posted to Twitter on Friday

The 38-year-old appeared to rule out succeeding Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader earlier this year, saying the job 'doesn't look like much fun' in April

'I would be seeking to deescalate this situation with diplomacy in any situation possible. Because we don’t know what is going to happen and that is reckless if you don’t know the outcome of your actions in war and peace, be very very careful before doing anything'.

The 38-year-old, known for being a straight talker, had seemed to rule out succeeding Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader earlier this year, saying the job 'doesn't look like much fun' in April.

She now joins shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry and shadow treasury minister Clive Lewis as those who have formally declared their bids after what she described as a 'shock' for the Labour Party in last month's election.

Who is Jess Phillips? She has been Birmingham Yardley MP since 2015

Before that she worked with victims of domestic abuse for Women's Aid

The 38-year-old is married to Tom and they have two sons

Her father was a teacher and her mother a senior NHS manager

Has long faced opposition from hardline left-wing supporters of Jeremy Corbyn

Last year she told how she got 600 rape threats online in a single night, including from Corbynistas Advertisement

'The Labour Party I think has had a shock in the election and it wants to win again', Ms Phillips told Liz Bates. 'None of this matters which faction you are in, who you had a row with in the past, you didn’t like so-and-so and you did like this and didn’t like that.

'None of that matters unless we can win and I think that the Labour Party recognise that is more important. The Labour Party has been a bit exclusive; it has felt a little bit like it was a clique and sometimes it was exclusive. That has got to end and it is as much my responsibility to end it as anyone's'.

She added that she is going to 'be honest throughout the campaign' and claimed she will 'answer Labour members' questions honestly'.

The MP also discussed her use of language in 2015, when she said she 'I won't knife you in the back, I will knife you in the front' while discussing Mr Corbyn.

She said: 'One of the reasons that people in the country actually like people like me is because I talk a little bit like them. And that means I will make mistakes. And that means I will admit when I make mistakes as well.

'So yes, if I could turn back time, I would say I won’t speak behind Jeremy Corbyn’s back, I will always tell him to his face'.

The mother-of-two added that the government is 'scared' of her 340,000 Twitter followers.

'The fact that I have many Twitter followers means that the government is scared when I put it out there and then much more likely to react,' she said.

'Nothing will ever silence me. Every time people like that try and use violence or threats to silence people like me it just gives me fuel to stand up further'.

Others are expected to announce their leadership intentions soon, with shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer, and close Corbyn ally Rebecca Long Bailey are widely expected to also run in what could a bitter campaign split down ideological lines.

The YouGov poll of Labour Party members found Keir Starmer and Rebecca Long-Bailey are the two early front-runners for the leadership

Ms Phillips, who supported victims of domestic abuse for Women's Aid before entering Parliament in 2015, would appear to be a relatively popular choice with the Labour members who will help select the leader.

She came third in a YouGov survey of the membership behind both Sir Keir and shadow business secretary Ms Long-Bailey.

Sir Keir would beat Ms Long Bailey, who is the favoured candidate of key figures in the current leadership, in a run-off 61 per cent to 39 per cent, according to the early survey.

And Ms Phillips is currently fourth favourites with the bookies behind them both, along with Miss Nandy.

She has long faced opposition from hardline left-wing supporters of Jeremy Corbyn. Last year she told how she was bombarded by 600 online rape threats in a single night from trolls - including some who claimed to be Corbynistas.

She also faced repeated vandalism against her constituency office.

Ms Phillips supported victims of domestic abuse for Women's Aid before entering Parliament in 2015

Sir Keir was hammering home his campaigning credentials today as he steps up his tilt for Labour's top job

The other candidates will be hoping to boost their profiles with the race not expected to formally get under way until Tuesday and a new leader not expected until the end of March.

Labour's disastrous election performance that helped Boris Johnson's Tories win an 80-strong majority has been the subject of an intense post-mortem examination.

The party's Brexit position, Mr Corbyn's unpopularity and his ambitious left-wing programme have all been the subject of scrutiny.

It came after Labour MPs last night warned of 'Operation Stop Keir' after the YouGov poll sparked a furious backlash from left-wingers online.

There were claims Sir Keir is not 'socialist' and putting a London-based Remainer in charge would be a 'parody' of what is needed to recover from the election rout.

One moderate MP, not a natural cheerleader for Sir Keir, told MailOnline: 'There will be a Stop Keir campaign now...

'The problem the Left has got... is that there is not a united position.

'They have got Saint Jeremy. But who else is there? Long Bailey is not up to it.'

The MP predicted the hardline clique that installed Mr Corbyn in the top job would now splinter and turn on each other.

'The Left always starts eating their own children,' they said. 'It happened in the 1980s and it will happen again now.

The poll showed Mr Starmer, an arch-Remainer who represents a London constituency, in the lead in every UK region and age group.

Mr Starmer has yet to declare formally that he will run, although he has given every indication he plans to.

Ms Long Bailey - seen as the preferred choice of Mr Corbyn's allies - has said she is considering a bid, but chairman Ian Lavery is also mulling putting himself forward as the torchbearer of the Left.