Bridget Phillipson has made it to the next round of Labour’s deputy leadership contest after securing nominations from 116 of the party’s MPs.
The Education Secretary became the first candidate to cross the threshold of 80 nominations required to make it to the next stage.
Already the frontrunner, Ms Phillipson received a boost on Wednesday afternoon when one of her rivals, fellow minister Alison McGovern, dropped out of the race and pledged to support her.
Figures released on Wednesday evening showed Ms Phillipson’s main rival, Lucy Powell, had received 77 nominations, just three short of the required 80 with a day to go before nominations close.
It now appears likely that Ms Powell, who was sacked by Sir Keir Starmer as leader of the Commons last week, will reach 80 nominations by the deadline of 5pm on Thursday.
But the remaining three candidates were further adrift, with left-wing MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy on 15 nominations, Liverpool Wavertree MP Paula Barker on 14 and Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Dame Emily Thornberry on 13.
All five candidates face a virtual hustings with Labour MPs on Wednesday evening.