Jack Straw has warned Labour will be a signing a “collective suicide note” if it elects a “continuity candidate” to replace Jeremy Corbyn, as moderates today launched their fightback against Rebecca Long Bailey.

The former foreign secretary said the party needed a “loyal” successor like a “hole in the head” and called for an alternative who could “reach beyond the Westminster bubble”.

His comments were echoed by Ian Murray, a deputy leadership candidate, who claimed that the “architects” of Labour’s worst election defeat since 1935 should not be allowed to determine the party’s future.