More than a dozen former Labour frontbenchers attended Angela Eagle’s leadership launch on Monday as she urged voters to join the party to help depose Jeremy Corbyn in time for a general election.

Her speech was attended by around 20 Labour MPs including Harriet Harman, the former interim leader, Hilary Benn, the former shadow foreign secretary, and Dan Jarvis, who has been tipped as a future leadership contender.

Ending weeks of speculation about whether she would stand, Ms Eagle said in her speech in central London that she could provide the “real leadership” that would unite the party and make Labour a government-in-waiting that could defeat the Tories.