Jeremy Corbyn makes a plea to Rebecca Long Bailey to make him Shadow Foreign Secretary 

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has made a thinly veiled plea to his ‘anointed’ successor Rebecca Long Bailey to keep him on after he quits – and make him Shadow Foreign Secretary.

The call came in the wake of Ms Long Bailey’s promise to offer Mr Corbyn a frontbench job if she wins the Labour leadership contest.

Mr Corbyn coupled the job request with a dig at Ms Long Bailey’s leadership rival Sir Keir Starmer to come clean about who is funding his campaign.

The moves came amid mounting complaints from allies of both Ms Long Bailey and her fellow contender Lisa Nandy that contest favourite Sir Keir was ‘going slow’ on revealing his main backers until most party members had actually cast their vote.

Mr Corbyn coupled the job request with a dig at Ms Long Bailey’s leadership rival Sir Keir Starmer to come clean about who is funding his campaign (right)

More than 500,000 Labour Party members began voting last week to decide who replaces Mr Corbyn. Voting closes on April 2.

Mr Corbyn has not publicly endorsed any of the three contenders but has pledged his ‘absolute support’ for Ms Long Bailey if she replaces him.

And in an interview to be published this week, he makes clear to his local newspaper that he would like to become Shadow Foreign Secretary after he quits as leader on April 4.

Asked by the Islington Gazette which Shadow Cabinet job he would like, Mr Corbyn replies: ‘I think foreign policy actually because I have spent my life on human rights justice and environmental justice issues.’

But prominent Corbyn critic, the Labour MP Neil Coyle, said: ‘Voters told us to lose Corbyn in December in monumental numbers. Candidates should not be tending Corbyn’s ego when voters told him to tend his allotment.’

Meanwhile, Sir Keir yesterday pledged that full details of who is contributing to his campaign will be published in line with official rules.