LIZ Kendall, the modernising candidate in the increasingly bitter Labour leadership contest, has denounced as a “gross insult” a Scottish peer’s suggestion that neither she nor Yvette Cooper could meet the challenges of leading the party.

Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the Shadow Justice Secretary, who is backing Andy Burnham for the leadership, sparked a row after suggesting the Shadow Health Minister and the Shadow Home Secretary were both talented politicians and had a big future in the party but were not up to the job of leading the party.

He argued: “Neither Yvette nor Liz can steer the Labour Party through the challenging few years ahead of us when we need a leader who can reach out to all wings of our party and provide unity. As a result, both Liz and Yvette are unlikely to beat Jeremy."

Ms Kendall accused the peer, who once shared a flat with Tony Blair, of showing a lack of respect for the contribution women had made to Labour.

"It is depressing to see a senior man in the party dismiss the contribution of women so easily," declared Ms Kendall, who represents Leicester West.

"For Charlie to say that women somehow aren't tough enough to lead the Labour Party is a gross insult and, as for standing up to Jeremy Corbyn, I'm the only candidate who has been saying he would be a disaster for our party and that I wouldn't serve in his Shadow Cabinet, unlike the candidate Charlie is supporting."

Ms Kendall, who is seen as the favourite of the Blairites, has already had to fend off calls to drop out to give either Mr Burnham or Ms Cooper a clear run against Mr Corbyn after a shock opinion poll suggested the left-winger was on course to win.

In a separate development, Jon Lansman, who heads a pro-Corbyn campaign, directed Twitter users to a spoof page promoting Ms Kendall as a potential Tory leader.

A spokesman for the Kendall campaign said: "If official campaigns get into nonsense like that it reflects very badly. I would hope they would distance themselves from any people who are operating in this way."

A Corbyn campaign spokesman responded, making clear Mr Lansman's tweets were not done on behalf of the campaign.

“He has not, to our knowledge, supported the spoof Liz Kendall sites but, in any case, the position of the campaign is absolutely clear: spoof accounts are the opposite of the leadership debate we are all about; it should be a positive campaign about the future direction of the Labour party, not personality politics.”

Meantime, Mr Corbyn’s camp said that Labour could seek inspiration from, among others, the SNP.

Jon Trickett, a senior member of the London MP’s campaign team, said Labour needed a “clean break” from the past, noting: “We need to start from the premise that no successful movement started in Westminster and was rolled out from on high. This is the lesson of Podemos, Syriza and even the SNP; but it also the lesson of our own history.”

The latest tally of UK Constituency Labour Party nominations showed Mr Corbyn ahead on 93, Mr Burnham on 84, Ms Cooper on 78 and Ms Kendall on 14. Around 100 more CLPs have to declare.

The breakdown in Scotland places Mr Burnham just ahead with 14, Ms Cooper with 13, Mr Corbyn with 12 and Ms Kendall with just one.

However, these numbers give no guarantees that large swathes of fellow Labour supporters will follow suit under the one-member-one-vote system now in place.

The Herald was told that this week Labour’s North East Fife CLP voted for Mr Corbyn but only 12 out of 100 of its members voted.