Labour's only Scottish MP has warned that the party could be “finished” if its next leaders are Corbynistas.
In an interview with the Standard, Ian Murray said Labour will get its “just deserts” if it fails to listen to the country after its disastrous election defeat.
Mr Murray said he was the only real “change” candidate in the race to replace Tom Watson as deputy leader and added: “If you believe in a democratised party you’ve got to put me on the ballot paper otherwise you are voting for different shades of beige and continuity.
"The wrong decisions, come April 4, and the Labour Party could be finished.”
Labour’s last two prime ministers, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, had already both thrown their weight behind Mr Murray’s message.
The outspoken MP for Edinburgh South said Labour must become a credible alternative instead of a “diminishing party of perpetual opposition”.
He added: “The current continuity candidates are saying to anybody who didn’t vote Labour at the last election, ‘We won the argument and you guys got it wrong and we don’t want your votes back.’
"We have to change away from this cultish Corbynista issue and say to the leadership candidates and the whole of the Labour movement you have a very powerful decision to make when those ballots drop on the doormat.”
He stressed any future Labour government needed Scotland — and hit out at shadow cabinet members who have indicated they would not stand in the way of a second Scottish independence referendum.
Both shadow chancellor John McDonnell and shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey have left the door open for a second ballot.
Mr Murray endorsed Jess Phillips for leader until she dropped out when her campaign faltered.
He said he would work with anyone, but in a thinly-veiled attack on Left-winger Ms Long-Bailey he added: “If it’s just a new face with a different voice but the same continuity Corbynism then the party is going to be in a very bad place.”
Mr Murray has the backing of 24 Constituency Labour Parties and needs nine more to make it onto the ballot paper.
