Socialist MP will challenge for Labour leadership

A Labour backbencher has announced that he will stand for party leader when Tony Blair steps down.
"The Labour party don't do coronations - but we don't do assassinations either. I want to see Tony Blair depart with dignity" John Mc Donnell told the BBC Daily Politics programme.
McDonnell insists he is not planning to challenge Blair for the leadership before he decided to stand down.
The MP for Hayes and Harlington is a respected old-Labour figure and currently chairs the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs.
Although not an attempt to topple Blair, it is a warning to Gordon Brown that he will not be handed the leadership without a fight.
McDonnell points to the hundreds of thousands of party members who have left the Labour party since 1997. He thinks that the New Labour project was a mistake, and advocates a return to socialist principles.
The Hayes MP is a former deputy leader of the GLC, but unlike his old boss Ken Livingstone, McDonnell keeps the red flag flying.
In announcing his candidacy, he said it was not a move against Blair but against all of New Labour. For the moment he is the only person to have declared himself - we will not know the date of any election until Blair decides to step down.
However, there is serious pressure on the PM to announce a date at party conference in September.
While it is highly unlikely that McDonnell will end up being the next PM, at the very least today's announcement means that Gordon Brown will have to fight to succeed Tony Blair. He will also have to defend his record and that of the last 9 years of New Labour to a party falling out of love with the whole project.