Ed Miliband in plan to seize back control of Labour with general election battle plan

Ed Miliband will try to seize back control of his party tonight by issuing a battle-plan to win the general election “street by street”.

After two days of bloody in-fighting among MPs and shadow ministers, Labour’s leader hoped his move would calm nerves that have been shredded by dismal opinion polls.

Two senior shadow cabinet ministers were forced to deny plotting against Mr Miliband. Potential successors Yvette Cooper and Andy Burnham responded angrily to a report that they had struck a “non-aggression pact” in case Mr Miliband had to fall on his sword.

Mr Miliband was backed by old guard figures, including Neil Kinnock, Ken Livingstone and Peter Hain today, as well as rising star Chuka Umunna.

He is writing an article to spell out his plans to win the election “house by house and street by street,” said a source. “Our job is to go out and show the difference our plan can make,” he said.

Barry Gardiner, Labour MP for Brent North, said the anti-Miliband critics were damaging the party.

He went on: “These guys are wrong, they have miscalculated and they are politically brain-dead because we need to be fighting this government on behalf of the electorate, not fighting personal battles within our own party.” Former cabinet minister David Blunkett tried to calm the atmosphere, calling for an end to “this bout of political insanity”.

But Lord Soley, who as an MP chaired the parliamentary party, said Mr Miliband was not seen by voters as a “charismatic potential prime minister”.