No coronation as Phillipson faces challenge from Powell

Two strong candidates remain in Labour deputy leader race

- MILLIE COOKE

The race to succeed Angela Rayner as deputy leader of the Labour Party has become a head-to-head battle between education secretary Bridget Phillipson and former Commons leader Lucy Powell.

The first stage of the contest drew to a close yesterday evening, with Ms Phillipson and Ms Powell being the only two candidates reaching the required threshold of 80 nominations from fellow Labour MPs.

Ms Phillipson became the first to reach the required number of nominations, on Wednesday night sitting ahead with 116 nominations.

She continued to pick up nominations following a virtual hustings on Wednesday evening, and has ended up with 175 nominations.

Meanwhile, Ms Powell, who was ousted at last week’s government reshuffle, received 77, just shy of the 80 required on Wednesday. She has now got over the threshold and picked up 117 nominations.