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 on Thursday 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.
The ex-Commons leader’s strong performance poured cold water on initial speculation that Ms Phillipson could be the only candidate to make it to the final stage of the race.
The prospect of a contested election threatens to overshadow Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool at the end of September, with some seeing it as a referendum on the prime minister’s leadership amid growing concern over the direction of the government and plummeting approval ratings.
But neither Ms Phillipson, a Cabinet minister, nor Ms Powell has so far been openly critical of Sir Keir Starmer, while other candidates have explicitly called for a change of direction.
Despite being sacked by Sir Keir last week, Ms Powell said she had been “proud” to serve in government when announcing her candidacy, while Ms Phillipson said she would “unite the party, take the fight to Reform, and deliver for our country”.
Early on Thursday the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Dame Emily Thornberry dropped out of the race, saying “it has been a privilege to take part in this race with such brilliant women”. She had picked up just 13 nominations by Wednesday night.
Paula Barker also dropped out of the race, giving her support to Lucy Powell.
She said: “The next deputy leader must listen to the concerns of every section of our party and not be afraid to bring those challenges to the government.
“Being a good team doesn’t mean we can’t be honest, criticism of government, when it’s constructive, makes us stronger.”
The day before, sixth candidate Alison McGovern dropped out of the race and offered her backing to Ms Phillipson, saying the “momentum of this contest had shifted”.
On the party’s left, Bell Ribeiro-Addy was sitting at third on 15 nominations on Wednesday, but only made it to 24 before the Thursday 5pm deadline.
The successful candidate will replace Ms Rayner as deputy Labour leader but not as deputy prime minister, a position which has been handed to justice secretary David Lammy.
The contest was triggered after Ms Rayner resigned last weekend, after an independent inquiry found that she did not meet the ethical standards required for government ministers over a recent home purchase.
The MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, who admitted last week that she did not pay enough tax on her purchase of an apartment in Hove earlier this summer, said the report found that she acted in good faith but that she should have sought more specific tax advice.
The result of the contest will be announced on October 25.