Labour MPs and would-be deputies raced to secure the nominations required to reach the next stage of the party’s deputy leadership contest after Angela Rayner’s resignation opened the post.
Nominations opened on Tuesday and candidates have until 5 p.m. on Thursday to win the backing of 79 fellow Labour MPs to progress. The truncated nomination period has prompted criticism from some MPs, who accused party leader Sir Keir Starmer of engineering a tight timetable that could favour certain contenders and limit debate. The short window also raises the prospect that the contest will be used by candidates to air grievances about the performance of the government.
Six candidates have formally declared their intention to run: Bridget Phillipson, Lucy Powell, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Dame Emily Thornberry, Alison McGovern and Paula Barker. The vacancy followed Rayner’s tearful resignation amid a dispute over her tax affairs, a development that sent the party into a rapid search for a successor.
Bridget Phillipson, 41, the education secretary and MP for Houghton and Sunderland South since 2010, is among those seeking the deputy role. Phillipson, one of the few cabinet ministers to retain her position in last week’s reshuffle, has emphasised her working-class roots in the North East and said she would be “a strong voice to unite our party, take the fight to Reform, and deliver for our country.” She has spoken publicly about growing up in a council house and briefly appearing as an extra on the television series Byker Grove before studying at Oxford.
Lucy Powell, 50, the MP for Manchester Central, was removed as leader of the House of Commons in the recent reshuffle and issued an apology in May after backlash over remarks on group-based child abuse. A career political operative who worked as Ed Miliband’s deputy chief of staff and for the pro‑EU group Britain in Europe, Powell has been tipped by some northern Labour figures as a candidate to ensure regional representation at the party’s top table. She argued her local experience in Manchester would help keep “people’s everyday hopes and fears” at the heart of party priorities.
Bell Ribeiro‑Addy, 40 and MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill, is the candidate backed by members of Labour’s left‑wing Socialist Campaign Group. Ribeiro‑Addy, who has described herself as a “black working‑class woman, Christian and lifelong socialist,” served as shadow immigration minister under Jeremy Corbyn and previously worked for the National Union of Students and as an adviser to veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott. In her maiden speech in Parliament she called for Britain to consider a “form of reparations” to African countries for the slave trade and said the government needed to return to core party values.
Dame Emily Thornberry, 65, the MP for Islington South and Finsbury since 2005, served as shadow attorney general before last year’s general election but was not given a Cabinet post. Thornberry has been a vocal critic of aspects of the government’s performance, warning that Labour cannot “afford” repeated mistakes given the rise of rival parties such as Reform UK. Her political record includes a 2011 incident in which she resigned from Ed Miliband’s shadow cabinet after tweeting a photograph of a house displaying England flags, an episode that drew accusations of snobbery from the resident featured in the image. Thornberry has said she would press for policies including a wealth tax.
Alison McGovern, 44, MP for Birkenhead and a minister in the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government, has positioned herself as a communicator who can broaden Labour’s appeal. First elected in 2010, McGovern served as parliamentary private secretary to former prime minister Gordon Brown and has been associated with the party’s Blairite wing, having chaired the Progress think tank. She warned of the threat from “right‑wing populism” and said she would shape Labour’s story to resonate across the party and with the wider public.
Paula Barker, 53 and MP for Liverpool Wavertree since 2019, is a former trade union official and local government worker who resigned from the front bench in November 2023 to vote for an SNP motion calling for a Gaza ceasefire. Barker is a co‑sponsor of assisted‑dying legislation currently before Parliament and has argued the party needs greater geographical and political diversity at its leadership.
The race to replace Rayner will test factions across Labour, from the parliamentary leadership and the party membership to trade unions and regional figures. The deputy role, while partly ceremonial, is seen as influential in shaping party messaging and internal cohesion. With the 79‑MP threshold to advance, several candidates will need to secure cross‑bench support quickly, a process observers say will reveal alliances and fault lines within the Parliamentary Labour Party.
Labour sources said the result of the initial nomination round will clarify whether the contest becomes a broad debate about strategy and direction or a brief, tightly managed process. Sir Keir has not publicly endorsed a successor; party officials have said the nomination timetable follows internal rules, while some MPs privately expressed unease at the speed of the contest.
The deputy leadership election will proceed in stages if candidates clear the MP threshold: those who do will face a vote of party members and affiliated organisations under rules established for internal leadership contests. The timetable set by the party means a successor could be selected before the end of the year, depending on how many candidates progress and how quickly the subsequent membership ballot is organised.
As campaigning continues, candidates and their backers will weigh both the practical task of securing 79 nominations and the wider political implications, including the potential use of hustings and media appearances to critique or defend the government’s record. The contest comes amid sustained scrutiny of Labour’s handling of government business, making the deputy race a potentially significant barometer of internal sentiment in a period of heightened political pressure.