Housing minister Alison McGovern has pulled out of the Labour deputy leadership race and thrown her weight behind Bridget Phillipson.
It comes as a source close to Ms Phillipson, the education secretary, told Sky News she is comfortably over the 80 nominations needed to get on the ballot paper.
Candidates have until 5pm tomorrow to reach that threshold, but on Wednesday afternoon Ms McGovern said it was “clear” she wasn’t going to make it through.
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In a statement posted on social media she said: “Despite picking up support today it is clear that the momentum of this contest has shifted and I am not going to progress to the next stage.
“I am pulling out of the race now to allow my supporters to switch their nominations to one of the remaining candidates before the deadline.
“I want to thank everyone who has offered me support and encouragement in this race. I will be nominating my friend and colleague Bridget Phillipson as the candidate best placed to unite our party and take the fight to our opponents.”
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Ms McGovern was coming last according to a tally released by the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) on Tuesday evening, when she had just two nominations compared to Ms Phillipson’s 44.
Last night sources close to her insisted there was time to catch up, and that the PLP’s tally didn’t reflect the full level of support behind her – given just a quarter of MPs had voted at this stage.
Ms McGovern had pitched herself as someone who could fight against populism in announcing her deputy leadership bid, a message she repeated in her exit statement as she warned: “Standing up to the far right and the populists can only be done with a progressive argument, and I will keep making it in support of whoever our deputy leader is.”
Ms McGovern was rumoured to be Number 10’s preferred choice before it was clear Ms Phillipson would enter the race.
As government ministers both are seen as candidates that would be loyal to Sir Keir Starmer, though Ms Phillipson is the more senior of the two as she holds a cabinet position, whereas Ms McGovern is a junior minister.
A fresh tally of votes is expected to be published by the PLP shortly.
As of yesterday, former Commons Leader Lucy Powell was coming behind Ms Phillipson on 35 votes.
Bell Ribeiro-Addy, seen as the most left-wing candidate who has the backing of many MPs in the Socialist Campaign Group (SCG), was coming in next with eight votes.
Dame Emily Thornberry, chairwoman of the foreign affairs select committee and a member of the shadow cabinet during Labour’s time in opposition, was next with seven.
Paula Barker, the Liverpool Wavertree MP and a former trade union official, was coming second to last with three.
The remaining candidates will have the chance to woo undecided MPs at a hustings event this evening, but there is concern it could descend into chaos as it is an event only.
That means hundreds of MPs will have just one hour to quiz the remaning five contenders virtually. It is being moderated by Jess Mordern, the Labour MP for Newport East.
The race was triggered by the resignation of former deputy prime minister and housing secretary Angela Rayner after she admitted underpaying stamp duty on a flat she bought in Hove.
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