A former Momentum chief and aide to Jeremy Corbyn has backed Sir Keir Starmer in the Labour leadership race.
Laura Parker, who worked as national coordinator of the grassroots group until December and private secretary to the outgoing Labour leader, has thrown her support behind Sir Keir, praising him for having “placed unifying the party at the heart of his mission and made an unequivocal commitment to preserving our core policies”.
She wrote in a blog for the LabourList website: “With a drive to unify our party around a radical programme, the experience to oversee the rebuilding and management of our complex party machine and the skills and determination to take on the Tories, Keir Starmer can become a great party leader.
“If we – over half a million members – accept and rise to the challenge of supporting him in this endeavour, then we will become more than the sum of our individual parts and also a great party.”
Ms Parker added Sir Keir had committed to “preserving our core policies” that when polled individually “have significant support from the public”.
Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey and Labour backbencher Lisa Nandy are the other two candidates to make it through to the contest’s final round.
Ballots are being sent out to around 500,000 members for the election to become Labour leader officially starting on Friday 21 February.
The winner will be revealed at a special conference on Saturday 4 April.
Related: Tony Blair calls for ‘radical’ overhaul to mark Labour’s 120th anniversary
