The video will start in 8 Cancel

What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Angela Eagle appealed for support on Facebook today, and it didn't go quite as she might have hoped.

In a post on the Labour leadership contender's Facebook page, she wrote: "Want to show your support for Angela's campaign and offer help?"

The post invited people to share it with friends to express their support for Ms Eagle's leadership campaign.

Almost immediately, the post was swamped with comments, but they weren't exactly supportive.

In fact, the vast majority of the 20,874 comments under the post at the time of publication carried the same message: #VoteCorbyn.

In response, Ms Eagle posted a second message, making a bold pitch for Jeremy Corbyn supporters to come round to her way of thinking.

She wrote: "Most Jeremy Corbyn supporters are good, decent, normal people. They just, rightly, want progressive change.

"Sadly, Jeremy cannot deliver it. He's an incredibly poor messenger surrounded by some divisive people.

"Let's not walk into a 21st century dominated by the Tories."

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

At the time of publication, the majority of the 2,074 replies on that post also said: #VoteCorbyn.

It came after an embarrassing moment at Ms Eagle's campaign launch.

The news that Theresa May was set to be anointed as Prime Minister overshadowed Ms Eagle's pitch to be the Labour leader.

As journalists raced to cover Mrs Leadsom's hastily-arranged press conference instead, the Labour hopeful was left-red faced asking for questions from journalists by name - only to learn that they weren’t there.

Ms Eagle started speaking at 12pm about 20 minutes from Westminster - where Ms Leadsom made her statement at 12.15pm.

Read more:

(Image: Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

Journalists started filing out of the event as they dealt with the news at hand - with ITV’s Robert Peston among big names making a break for it.

That meant when his name was called to ask a question there was no one there.

Ms Eagle could be seen rocking back and forth awkwardly as the journalists simply didn't materialise.

(Image: Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

Laughter broke out when she said: "Anyone from the BBC?" - and there was no response.

She then said: "BBC anyone? No? Okay? Robert Peston, where are you?"

Almost exactly the same thing happened in TV political comedy The Thick of It when a minister announced an obscure policy only for the PM to resign.

At least Ms Eagle had a good excuse, unlike Tory Stephen Crabb - who looked embarrassed as he repeatedly called journalists who weren’t there at his own launch last month.