Chuka Umunna wheels out his girlfriend for first time as Labour leadership race gets nasty

Labour's leadership  front-runner Chuka Umunna wheeled out his new girlfriend in public for the first time as he set out his stall to replace Ed Miliband.

The shadow business secretary was pictured walking hand-in-hand with his glamorous lawyer partner Alice Sullivan ahead of his interview on the BBC's flagship Andrew Marr show.

Mr Umunna used the interview to criticise Labour's drift to the left and admitted he was considering a bid become leader.

His intervention came after Labour's leadership battle descended into open warfare after Mr Umunna and the other leadership contenders were accused of 'behaving like family members taking jewellery off a corpse' by openly criticising Mr Miliband so soon after the election defeat.

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Labour MP Chuka Umunna (left) and girlfriend Alice Sullivan (right) pictured before the Andrew Marr Show in Westminster this morning

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Mr Umunna used the interview to criticise Labour's drift to the left and admitted he was considering a bid become leader

Blairite front-benchers Tristram Hunt and Liz Kendal joined Mr Umunna in criticising Labour's disastrous campaign today, after the party suffered its worst election defeat in almost 30 years.

The party lost all-but one of its MPs in Scotland and failed to make any gains south of the border, where even the shadow chancellor Ed Balls lost his seat.

Mr Hunt said the party was in a 'really deep hole' and admitted he would 'get involved' in the leadership contest to take over from Ed Miliband.

 

 

 

Ms Kendal, the shadow care minister, was the first Labour candidate out of the blocks – revealing she was running for the leadership.

While Mr Hunt and Mr Umunna have not formally announced their leadership bids, the speed with which they distanced themselves from the former leader sparked criticism from elsewhere in the party.

A source from an unannounced leadership campaign told the New Statesman magazine they were 'behaving like family members taking jewellery off a corpse'. 

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Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, Chuka Umunna said: 'In my view the Labour party succeeds and does best when it marries together its compassion for people who can't provide for themselves'