Clive Lewis’ embryonic leadership bid has been put on hold during the election campaign as he focuses on keeping his seat. Lewis has a 7,654 majority in Norwich South so is in the danger zone – the LibDems won there in 2010 and the Tories are targeting it hard. This is why, in defiance of Labour colleagues, Lewis is the headline speaker at the Progressive Alliance campaign launch on Monday. He will be joined by Vince Cable and Green leader Jonathan Bartley to talk about how to “stop the Tories”.

Lewis got 19,033 votes in Norwich South in 2015, the second place Tories got 11,379. 4,539 people voted UKIP, the rump of those votes will go Tory. 6,749 people voted Green and 6,607 voted LibDem – Lewis needs some of those votes or it becomes far too close for comfort. A well-placed Labour source says that Clive talking up the Progressive Alliance is a “red flag”, and that he has cancelled all leadership manoeuvring to focus solely on saving his seat…