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Tristram Hunt out of Labour leadership race

Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt has said he will not be standing for the Labour leadership and has given his backing to the Blairite favourite, Liz Kendall.

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Labour 'knew it trailed in polls'

Labour knew it was behind in the polls since last year, an internal pollster has revealed.

Labour knew it was behind in the polls since last year, an internal pollster has revealed Credit: PA

James Morris, who worked for Labour from when Ed Miliband was elected leader in 2010 until the election, said public polling showed a much more favourable position than the party's internal data, both in the run-up to and during the campaign.

He told the BBC's Newsnight: "Throughout that time, the Labour party knew it was starting in a much more troublesome place than the public polls made it appear.

We would find public polls with Labour in the low forties, while our internal polls would have Labour maybe seven points lower than that.

There was a lot of argument about when crossover would come, when the Tories would retake the lead, pollsters publicly saying maybe that would come in January this year or Easter.

The Labour Party knew that in fact happened after conference last year 2014. That's what led the party to launch the campaign so strongly on fiscal responsibility and immigration and have such a disciplined message focus running out of November last year, perhaps into the short campaign.

– Labour's internal pollster James Morris

On Monday Harriet Harman told the party's MPs: "We have got to look deep in our souls, but we shouldn't open our veins."

More: Harriet Harman: 'No snap answer' for Labour's election defeat

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Tristram Hunt out of Labour leadership race

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