Wigan MP Lisa Nandy takes Twitter off phone to escape

The Wigan MP says she is now in a “lovely place” following her decision.

She was speaking to LBC following publication of the Labour Party’s official report into the general election defeat which it blamed on Brexit while largely absolving Jeremy Corbyn.

The report was interpreted by some as having absolved Mr Corbyn, a position that was rejected by leadership hopeful Ms Nandy.

She said: “I haven’t seen the report but I think none of us can be exonerated for the worst election defeat since 1935,”

She said the Brexit position was a factor, which she accused the leadership of having hit the “sweet spot” where both sides of the divide thought the party was against them.

She also said she was now in a “lovely place” having taken Twitter off her phone in an attempt to connect with the voters and not the “Westminster bubble”.

The focus on the social media “hothouse” has been a major problem for the left, Ms Nandy argued, leading to misguided beliefs over when it is failing or succeeding.

“We should be out there amongst the public if we really want to understand what’s happening,” she said.

The report also revealed that Labour’s membership surged to more than 580,000 after their catastrophic defeat in December.

The post-mortem examination circulated to the party’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) found it would be “unrealistic” not to say its policy to hold a fresh referendum played a “decisive” role.

Radicalism was largely ruled out as being at fault in the report by election co-ordinators Andrew Gwynne and Ian Lavery, but they did blame a glut of policies for confusing the public.

The members will vote along with other supporters for Mr Corbyn’s successor and the result will be announced on April 4.

Ms Nandy and Sir Keir Starmer have both succeeded in getting onto the final ballot and the remaining contenders, Ms Long-Bailey and Emily Thornberry, are still trying to attract sufficient support from unions and affiliated organisations, but the former seems guaranteed to leap that hurdle