Downing Street has been accused of attempting to “stitch up” the deputy leadership race by giving prospective candidates just 72 hours to secure support to enter the contest.
Sacked Cabinet minister Lucy Powell and former shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry have emerged as early frontrunners in the battle to succeed Angela Rayner as the elected deputy leader of the Labour Party.
Several MPs were frantically messaging colleagues on Monday in a bid to gauge the level of support before entering the race, as each candidate must secure the backing of 80 MPs under the party’s rules.
Thornberry was first out of the traps canvassing support by sending a video of herself from Sunday appearing on the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg show, attacking the Government’s domestic agenda.
As well as Powell and Thornberry, former transport secretary Louise Haigh, who resigned after a decade-old fraud offence came to light in November 2024, were considering throwing their hat in the ring as of Monday night.
David Lammy, the new Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary, has not declared either way and was said to be focusing on his new briefs.
Insiders said Jess Phillips had been seen as a potential “government candidate” but she has ruled herself out for personal reasons.
It has left Alison McGovern, who was promoted to Housing Minister in last week’s reshuffle, as Downing Street’s preferred candidate. She is believed to be considering her options.
McGovern is relatively unknown outside of Westminster, but this could be an advantage for Starmer who would not have to contend with a high profile rival power base in the party. She represents Birkenhead in Liverpool, and may appeal to wavering left MPs who want a voice from the north.
Of those that are likely to cause the biggest headaches for Starmer’s government is Rosena Allin-Khan, who was stripped of her trade envoy role earlier this year for voting against the Government.
She is gauging support among colleagues and is expected to raise concerns about the Prime Minister’s language on immigration, although there were doubts as to whether she will secure enough support.
The high 20 per cent threshold of backbench MPs coupled with the short timeframe to enter the race, has prompted some Labour insiders to claim No 10 has seized control of the contest.
The relatively tight timetable is being seen by party insiders as favourable to Downing Street and whoever is their preferred candidate, with one source saying it looked like No10 could have “stitched up” the race.
Nominations will be open for just 72 hours – meaning No10’s favoured contender would be able to bank the support of scores of Starmer loyalists who sit on the government benches, while their opponents would be having to pitch for backers among the less organised backbenches.
An insider said there could be as many as 200 loyalist MPs, including those on the government payroll, who could fall in behind a fellow minister.
Timetable favourable for Downing Street
The six-week timetable is also being seen as favourable to Downing Street, as it is relatively quick and would give a contender from the left of the party less time to drum up support among constituency parties than the government machine.
Nonetheless, it means the deputy leadership race would overshadow Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool which starts on 28 September.
One insider said it looked like the field could be narrowed to two fairly quickly – between the government candidate and a contender from the backbenchers and soft left, either Powell or Thornberry.
Thornberry, the former shadow attorney general who’s Islington South seat is close to Keir Starmer’s Holborn and St Pancras in north London was unexpectedly passed over for a cabinet position when Labour took power.
She is currently the chair of the powerful Foreign Affairs Select Committee and has gradually been ratcheting up her criticism of Starmer.
Lucy Powell, who was sacked as Leader of the House of Commons in last week’s reshuffle is said to be popular among Labour MPs, and crucially she has a northern constituency in Manchester, where she was born.
A Labour frontbencher said the tight timetable showed No10 did not want the contest to “be a festival of internal democracy”.
There is a belief among some quarters that the deputy role should go to another woman representing a seat in the north, which would appear to count against Thornberry and Allin-Khan, who are both based in London.
It opens up the race for Powell, whose seat is in Manchester, McGovern, who represents Birkenhead and Haigh, whose seat is in Sheffield.
A source close to Haigh said “she has been contacted by friends in both the PLP and wider movement urging her to consider standing” but had yet to make a decision.
Labour MP Lewis Atkinson said he would backing a “non-London woman” adding: “Given the geographical distribution of other leading members of the party & Government, it would not be acceptable to have a London Deputy leader.”
A Labour MP, elected last year said that Powell’s stint as Leader of the House means that MPs know her – and like her.
““But “Lucy has been really generous with her time to everybody and she’s quite popular in the PLP, people like her – and she doesn’t have a scandal,” they said. “Quite frankly, at the moment, being somebody who Keir fired – but not for scandal, for whatever else – is not a bad place to be when you’re going out to the membership.”
Powell is understood to be angry at being sacked on Friday, with sources suggesting she had clashed with Starmer’s Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney.
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square KITTY DONALDSONWhat Labour MPs are really saying about the deputy leader race
Read MoreIn a sign of the frustrations among the Left, Richard Burgon attacked Downing Street’s apparent involvement telling grassroots site Left Foot Forward: “They don’t want Gaza on the ballot paper. They don’t want the winter fuel payment cuts on the ballot paper. They don’t want disability benefit cuts on the ballot paper.”
“I think it will be very hard for a left candidate to get on the ballot paper. And the reason for that is because the leadership are making it deliberately very difficult for a left candidate to get on the ballot.”
And in a further sign of the divisions within the party, Lord Glasman, founder of the Blue Labour movement, warned the appointment of someone for the progressive left would result “in the extinction of the party”.
“It’s life or death for the party now,” he said.
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