Rebecca Long-Bailey gives Jeremy Corbyn 10/10 on leadership but says she is not his continuity candidate
Video report by ITV News Political Correspondent Paul Brand, words by Westminster Producer Lewis Denison
Labour leadership hopeful Rebecca Long-Bailey has told ITV News she is not the Jeremy Corbyn continuity candidate - as she has been critically described - but said she gives his leadership ten out of ten.
Ms Long-Bailey, who announced her leadership bid on Monday evening following weeks of speculation, is being viewed by many as the candidate who will carry the torch of Corbynism into the next election.
Mr Corbyn announced he would stand down as Labour leader following the party's disastrous defeat in last month's general election.
"I'm not anybody’s continuity candidate," she told ITV News Political Correspondent Paul Brand, but she did little to dispel those allegations.
Instead she praised Mr Corbyn, saying she is "proud of the fact that over the last four years I've been immersed in developing many of the policies that made it into the manifesto".
She went further in her lauding of Mr Corbyn, saying she would give his leadership of Labour a "10 out of 10" and said he is "one of the most honest, kind, principled politicians" she has ever met.
She claimed she and the current leader are "very different people", but when pressed for a direct answer as to why, her response suggested there is little difference in ideology.
"We are very different in our approach to the way we deal with policy, the way that we speak, certainly my tone is very different to Jeremy's," she said.
She said she agreed with Mr Corbyn's policies, such as the Green New Deal and economic reform, but said she was "sad" the ideas were not sold properly during the election campaign.
Mr Corbyn responded to the praise heaped upon him, describing Long-Bailey as "a wonderful colleague, a brilliant member of the shadow cabinet"
But he stopped short of backing her for leader and declined to reveal who he would be voting for.
Asked if he would give Ms Long-Bailey 10 out of 10, Mr Corbyn responded: "'Well she's given me '10 out of 10' but I never mark my own homework."
When asked how she has fun, Ms Long-Bailey said her "favourite hobby is having a Chinese takeaway and watching a box set on a Friday night with my husband".
"I haven’t done anything crazy; I don't go to the bars in Westminster regularly," she said, adding how the most important thing in her life is her son.
"My life centres around my little boy... making sure the time I spend time with my family is fun for him, taking him to trampoline parks and things like that," she said.