Clive Lewis becomes second MP to join Labour leadership race

Clive Lewis has become the second MP to announce he will stand in the race to replace Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Party leader.

The shadow Treasury minister said he wanted to ‘unleash’ the Labour movement to win its first general election since 2005.

Confirmation of the left-wing MP’s decision to fight for the top job follows shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry’s declaration on Wednesday.

Writing in The Guardian, Mr Lewis said he wanted to have the opportunity to ‘win back’ the trust of the electorate in Labour’s traditional heartlands, where large swathes of voters deserted the party in favour of Boris Johnson’s Conservatives at the election.

First elected in 2015, the Norwich South MP wrote: ‘The truth is that while making a clear break with the New Labour era in terms of policy and personnel, the party was never able to communicate this to voters in our heartlands.

‘When trying to persuade them of our radicalism and sincerity, we often had the legacy of the 2000s thrown back in our faces.

‘Persuading voters that we understand the sources of their long-held resentment and frustration, of their disappointment in how Labour has conducted itself since the 1990s, will be the first step towards winning back their trust.’

Rachael Maskell, MP for York Central, has been quick out of the blocks to endorse Remain-backing Mr Lewis, who says he wants to give Labour members a greater say in party decisions and change the voting system.

The contest to succeed Mr Corbyn has yet to officially start but a number of other candidates are expected to declare in the coming weeks.

Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey is said to be considering running, while shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer, Wigan MP Lisa Nandy, and arch-Remainer and Tottenham MP David Lammy have all expressed interest.

Shadow women & equalities secretary Dawn Butler is also considering standing, while backbencher Jess Phillips and former shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper are seen as other possible candidates.

Ms Thornberry, in a pitch for the leadership on Thursday, ‘called out’ the way in which she said Mr Corbyn was badly advised and undermined.

She has also said she will sue defeated Labour MP Caroline Flint, who had suggested Ms Thornberry called northern voters ‘stupid’.