And then there were five… Thornberry scrapes through to second round of Labour leadership race, as Lewis drops out
Five candidates have secured enough nominations to get through to the second round of the Labour leadership contest, with just one contender dropping out.
Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry is thought to have scraped through after she secured enough support from MPs and MEPs with just minutes to go, however Clive Lewis dropped out before the deadline.
Thornberry now goes up against fellow London MP shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer to succeed Jeremy Corbyn. They and the other candidates Rebecca Long-Bailey, Jess Phillips and Lisa Nandy to seek the backing of unions and/or local constituencies before the contest widens out to Labour members.
Starmer, the only man left running, is widely viewed as the frontrunner, having secured the backing of Unison early on.
He secured the backing of 89 colleagues, while Long-Bailey came second with 33 nominations. Nandy received 31, while Phillip and Thornberry received 23 apiece.
A final decision won’t be announced until 4 April.
The deputy leadership race is also ongoing, with Angela Rayner the favourite to replace Tom Watson, who quit during the election campaign.
She is up against fellow frontbenchers Dawn Butler and Richard Burgon, as well as Tooting MP Rosena Allin-Khan and Scottish MP Ian Murray.
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