David Miliband 'prepared to nominate leadership rival'

David Miliband suggested yesterday he would be prepared to nominate one of his rivals for the Labour leadership if they were close to the threshold for getting on to the ballot paper.

The Shadow Foreign Secretary rejected calls for it to be made easier for MPs with little support to get officially nominated by the parliamentary party.

But he indicated that, if one of the declared candidates was a single nomination short of the 33 required, he would be ready to use his own to help them proceed.

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Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham is currently the closest to the threshold among the three runners yet to get on to the ballot paper. He had 18 nominations yesterday.

Left-wingers John McDonnell, with seven, and Diane Abbott, with just two, look increasingly likely to fall short of the necessary numbers when nominations close next Wednesday.

Mr McDonnell has led calls for a reduction in the 33-MP threshold, saying that to do so would widen the field and give members more of a choice.

Mr Miliband has the most nominations with 57 and is the bookies' favourite to succeed Gordon Brown as Labour leader.