JEREMY CORBYN is on course to secure the 35 nominations needed from MPs to stay in Labour’s leadership race, the Morning Star can reveal.

The left candidate, who started the weekend with 18 nominations, was closing in on the target last night after eight more MPs pledged their support. And a source close to Mr Corbyn told the Star that he was confident they would reach 35 by the time nominations close at noon today.

“It’s now looking very promising that we will get 35,” he said.

“We have 26 that we regard as definite, who will nominate him first thing in the morning. We have a further seven who are saying they will if he’s close. That would put us on 33 and we have several others that are strong possibilities.

“We’ll have an operation in the morning to count them in and chase them up.”

Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall have all already secured the nominations needed to be on the ballot paper.

News that Mr Corbyn could be set to join them came after he made a final pitch for support on Sky News yesterday.

The Islington North MP explained he was not standing for “personal aggrandisement,” but for a “serious debate” on Labour’s future.

He said: “What I’m trying to do is to say there is a Labour tradition here, a Labour tradition of public enterprise, of public ownership, a Labour tradition of investment in social, health services, which I think is a very strong one and what brings a lot of people into the party and brings a lot of people to vote for us in the first place.”

Grassroots Labour members also continued their energetic campaign to keep Mr Corbyn in the contest.

They secured last-ditch declarations of support from Rotherham MP Sarah Champion, Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox and Sheffield Heeley MP Louise Haigh over the weekend.

And Mr Corbyn’s 19,000-strong campaign Facebook page was being used last night to co-ordinate messages to the 46 undeclared Labour MPs to support him. “The social media campaign and support from the grassroots has really made a difference,” the spokesperson for Mr Corbyn’s camp said. “We didn’t persuade Champion and Cox, they came of their own accord as a result of the pressure.”

Ms Haigh explained on Twitter that she did not formally nominate him to ensure she could help Mr Corbyn stay in the contest if he was short of nominations. 

Although Ms Haigh is backing Mr Burnham, the Star understands Mr Corbyn’s camp has had more co-operation from his main rival Ms Cooper. Emily Thornberry, who represents the neighbouring constituency to Mr Cobryn’s, is among her supporters that lent their nominations. 

Mr Corbyn’s team now faces a race against time to ensure that MPs who have pledged support get their nomination papers in before noon. If he reaches 35 nominations, he will ensure a voice from Labour’s left is heard in a four-month debate about the party’s future. 

That will see the campaigning MP included in televised leadership hustings, which start with a Newsnight debate on Wednesday, as well as dozens of public Labour Party hustings. 

A Labour List poll revealed on Friday he was the members’ favourite and suggested he could exceed expectations when the results are revealed at a special conference on Saturday September 12.