Ed Miliband claimed he was "increasingly confident" of winning the Labour leadership today despite a new poll showing brother David was the public's preferred choice.
The shadow climate change secretary appeared to declare victory in the race as his campaign team said they were now hopeful of a "clean sweep" of each section of the party's electoral college.
The claims, hotly disputed by opponents, follow a weekend poll of Labour members and trade unionists that put the younger brother narrowly ahead.
But a new ComRes/Independent poll today found that David Miliband was more than twice as popular as his brother among Labour voters, with 26 per cent to Ed's 11 per cent.
The former foreign secretary was also the choice of voters who switched from Labour to the Tories.
Labour switchers to the Liberal Democrats said David was the more likely to get Labour back into power — by 39 per cent to five per cent.
The ballot for the leadership closes next week. Ed Miliband told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I'm increasingly confident the momentum is behind me in this campaign. I think it is a hard election to forecast and I'm certainly not counting my chickens."
The David Miliband camp hit back hard today, pointing out that 104 Labour MPs have publicly backed their man, compared with 76 for Ed.
In a new development, rival leadership contender Andy Burnham's campaign fixer Gerry Sutcliffe revealed that his second preference will go to David.
