Acting Labour leader Harriet Harman has defended her decision not to run in the party's leadership contest, insisting that Diane Abbott was "going to give the boys a good run for her money".
Ms Abbott is viewed as the outsider in a five-horse race against Ed and David Miliband, Andy Burnham and Ed Balls - with commentators questioning whether there should be a "more mainstream" female candidate on the ballot paper.
Ms Harman told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show: "I had a choice to make - either to lead the Labour Party through what is a very difficult time after an election defeat, or to throw my hat into the ring for the leadership.
"And I think my duty and my responsibility as deputy leader was to step forward as acting leader because although we've been defeated in the general election, we're not demoralised, we're very determined and I think this is a very crucial period.
"We've got five fantastic candidates, all of whom would make excellent leaders of the party and we don't know who's going to win."
Ms Harman said there would be no "all-male team at the top" as she would remain as deputy leader after the leadership election in September.
She said: "I would discount all this talk about who's the outsider and who's the frontrunner because I think that political party elections are very very difficult for people to predict.
"Nobody knows who's going to win and Diane said herself she's going to give the boys a good run for her money."
Ms Harman also revealed that former Prime Minister Gordon Brown would be returning to Parliament as an MP before the summer recess.
Mr Brown has only been in the Commons chamber once since conceding defeat in the general election, to formally swear in as an MP last month.
