BLAIRITE Labour leadership candidate Liz Kendall appeared to concede defeat yesterday an hour before voting closed, with a rancorous closing speech attacking favourite Jeremy Corbyn.

Ms Kendall is expected, according to the latest polls, to garner around 11 per cent of the vote.

She seemed close to tears as she claimed that a Corbyn-led Labour Party would not win elections.

“The programme Jeremy Corbyn offers is not new,” said the Leicester West MP.

“His policies and politics are the same now as they were in the 1980s — and will end up delivering the same result.

“Neither is he the sole keeper of Labour’s principles. No-one has a monopoly on being led by their conscience.”

She conceded that the Labour Party’s new members — including a whopping 121,295 registered supporters — did “not believe we are offering change and some of them doubt our principles altogether.”

But Ms Kendall refused to “compromise my principles,” including her commitment to Nato membership and a renewal of the Trident nuclear missile programme.

Jeremy Corbyn thanked his supporters for three months of tireless campaigning at close of polls yesterday.

The Islington North MP said: “It has been a privilege to be a candidate in this leadership campaign.

“Our campaign has been far broader than the election of one individual to lead the Labour Party — it is about a new, kinder style of politics and a fairer Britain.

“I would like to thank my fellow candidates for the good manner in which they have conducted this contest.

“Whatever the outcome on Saturday, the party must come together to strive for social justice, oppose the Tories and deliver a Labour government in 2020.”

Mr Corbyn’s team said that over 50,000 people had attended his campaign events.

A further 16,000 people are said to have volunteered for the MP.

Andy Burnham was less upbeat, admitting to supporters that he only had an “outside” chance of winning.

Scotland’s only Labour MP Ian Murray, who supports Yvette Cooper for leader, became the latest party frontbencher yesterday to say that they would be happy to serve in a Corbyn cabinet.