LABOUR leadership longshot Liz Kendall made a pitch to the left of the party today exclusively in the Morning Star, presenting herself as the heir to Clement Attlee rather than Tony Blair.

Ms Kendall condemned the Tories’ “ideological crusade” against public services and “undemocratic assault” on trade unions.

But in an implicit criticism of left-wing rival Jeremy Corbyn, she declared that “principle and protest without electoral success” is “futile.”

Critics of Ms Kendall, who is closely aligned with the party’s Progress faction, believe her rhetoric is a cover for a return to a more Blairite programme.

She even lifted a line from a famous speech made by Mr Blair — “I wasn’t born into this party, I joined it” — for a campaign video she released this week.

But the shadow health minister insisted on Monday that she was not really the “heir to Blair.”

In a further bid to distance herself from the divisive former PM, Ms Kendall co-opted a quote from Clement Attlee to support her claim that members are being made to make a “false choice” between principles and success.

She wrote: “After the great 1945 Labour government was elected, Attlee reportedly said ‘you will be judged by what you succeed at gentlemen, not by what you attempt’.”

Ms Kendall was relegated to a 100/1 outsider with the bookies yesterday after YouGov research suggested that she was set to scoop just 8 per cent in the leadership poll.

In a bid to reach out to members two days before the ballot opens, she set out her “bold and radical” alternative to beat the Tories in 2020.

“I want to revive the Labour tradition of people power, taking us back to our party’s roots in trade unions, co-operatives and mutuals,” she pledges.

Co-operatives UK chairman Nick Matthews praised Ms Kendall as a consistent supporter of the movement but said her proposals were “rather vague.”

Campaign for Public Ownership director Neil Clark said: “Kendall says — quite correctly — ‘the scale of the challenge we face demands boldness and radicalism,’ but, if we look at the details, there is sadly little evidence of either boldness or radicalism in what she proposes.”