Former Foreign Secretary David Miliband will be voting for Liz Kendall and Yvette Cooper as his first and second preferences in the Labour leadership election, he has revealed. In an article for The Guardian, Miliband says Kendall has earned his vote because of her “plain speaking, fresh thinking and political courage”.

Miliband, who himself stood for the leadership in 2010 before leaving Parliament in 2013, also praises the “new generation of politicians”, specifically Chuka Umunna, Tristram Hunt and Emma Reynolds, who are all backing Kendall.

Andy Burnham is the only candidate not mentioned in the piece, while Cooper’s speech critiquing Jeremy Corbyn’s policies is described as passionate and effective:

“Cooper argued passionately and effectively for a positive reformist vision and against the siren calls of “defiance” of the Corbyn campaign. There is nothing defiant or desirable about unworkable policies and undeliverable promises. There is only defeat.”

Miliband appears to share Kendall’s view that the Labour Party could face a potentially existential threat in the near future, suggesting the UK could turn into a one-party state

“Given the collapse of the Lib Dems, the stakes now are very high indeed, not just for Labour but for the country. Get it wrong, and Britain could become a multiparty democracy with only one party – the Conservative party – that can win parliamentary majorities. A one-governing-party state.”