Leadership candidate warns that Labour risks becoming the "new nasty party"

Her call came shortly after Labour's National Executive Committee suspended all local party meetings amid reports of intimidation, bullying and threatening behaviour, and just days after a brick was thrown through her own constituency office window in Wallasey on Merseyside.

The party has suspended its constituency party in Brighton and Hove and annulled the results of a recent election following accusations of abusive behaviour, an improper ballot and entryism by activists.

Turning Jeremy Corbyn's "kinder politics" catchphrase against him, Ms Eagle said that Labour needed "a kinder politics in reality" and must not end up "in the gutter".

The former shadow business secretary, who quit the shadow cabinet to launch her challenge to Mr Corbyn, asked party members at a social event in Wolverhampton: "What attracted you to the Labour Party in the first place? I'm guessing it didn't involve abuse, misogyny, homophobia, anti-Semitism and the opportunity to picket Labour events

"The Labour Party can't become the new nasty party for women, or indeed for anyone else. It's a place where everyone should play a part. Men and women. Old and young. Black and white. Gay and straight ... We need a kinder politics in reality, which is why I've called on the leadership to not just call out such behaviour but to take action too.

"I've launched a campaign called 'Keep It Comradely'. We should be proud of the Labour movement and what we have achieved. I don't want Labour in the gutter. I want it in power."

Her comments came as her rival challenger for the Labour leadership, Owen Smith, won the backing of one of Mr Corbyn's most loyal MPs.

Cardiff Central MP Jo Stevens was one of 40 MPs who refused to back the no confidence motion in Mr Corbyn. But she has now told supporters she will back Mr Smith in the leadership contest.

Mr Corbyn has refused to step aside. He retains the support of Labour's big union backers and earlier this week won the right to feature on the leadership ballot paper without having to clear the hurdle of collecting nominations from 51 MPs or MEPs.

But shadow Wales secretary Paul Flynn told Politics Home magazine his leadership may have "passed the tipping point".

The Labour Party declined to comment on the suspension of its Brighton and Hove branch, saying only: "We do not comment on private meetings or ongoing investigations."

A spokesman added: "No abuse of any kind by Labour Party members or supporters is tolerated. Any complaints of bullying or intimidation and allegations of misconduct are always taken very seriously.

"We would encourage anyone who has been the subject of threats to inform the party and contact the police."

Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn has said he would rather change the world than change the Government, and choose peace over prosperity and revolution over power.

The answers came in a quickfire question session with author Ben Okri, in which Mr Corbyn also opted for cycling over walking, cats over dogs and yoga over dance.

The beleaguered Labour leader took time out from his turbulent party battles to discuss his literary loves with the Booker-winning novelist and poet at London's Royal Festival Hall on Friday evening.

He named Robert Tressell's The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists as the book which first inspired his politics, noting that its cast of downtrodden workers could be transposed into a modern-day call centre or Sports Direct warehouse.

But he said his true childhood passion was for maps, and recalled how he spent hours in the library poring over atlases and Ordnance Survey sheets.

He professed his admiration for Joseph Conrad's tale of colonial exploitation in the Congo, Heart of Darkness, as well as a modern book about apartheid South Africa, Starlight in the Ring by HN Quinnen, and Ghanaian author Ama Ata Aidoo's Our Sister Killjoy, about the experiences of an African migrant to the UK.

He named Jerusalem as the song he would choose as England's national anthem, suggested that his alternative career outside politics could have been farming, and said the last gig he attended was Mexican singer Lila Downs.

Mr Corbyn said the book he would advise Prime Minister - and former Home Secretary - Theresa May to read would be Oscar Wilde's De Profundis, detailing his suffering as a prisoner in Reading Gaol.

The event, before a packed and enthusiastic audience, was organised after Mr Corbyn quoted Okri in his victory speech after being elected leader last year, and the Nigerian author wrote him a poem in response.