Corbynista MPs help Rebecca Long Bailey make Labour leadership cut
Rebecca Long Bailey goes through to the second round of Labour leadership race thanks to newly elected Corbynista MPs as Lisa Nandy and Jess Phillips also make the cut
- Of Ms Long Bailey’s 26 backers, 15 are MPs who were first elected in December
- She was one of three MPs to pass the 22-nomination threshold to stay in the race
- Jess Phillips and Lisa Nandy also made the cut, joining front-runner Keir Starmer
Newly-elected Corbynista MPs swooped in behind Rebecca Long Bailey last night to get her through the next round of the battle to become the new Labour leader.
Shadow business secretary Ms Long Bailey, 37, seen as the preferred candidate of Mr Corbyn’s inner circle, was one of three MPs to pass the 22-nomination threshold to stay in the race to succeed Mr Corbyn in April.
Jess Phillips and Lisa Nandy also made the cut, joining clear front-runner Sir Keir Starmer.
Ms Long Bailey currently has 26 backers, according to figures released by Labour, of whom 15 are MPs who were first elected in December despite the party’s humiliation at the hands of voters.
The rush of new nominations laves just Clive Lewis and Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, struggling to make the cut on four and nine respectively.
But it seems like they will be the final six runners, after shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner abandoned a plan to join the race after failing to receive support from his fellow MPs.
Ms Long Bailey currently has 26 backers, according to figures released by Labour, of whom 15 are MPs who were first elected in December despite the party’s humiliation at the hands of voters.
Sir Keir Starmer is the clear front runner with the backing of 63 MPs
Candidates who pass the magic number of 22 – 10 per cent of Labour MPs and MEPs in the Parliamentary Labour Party, who total 212 – will then need to secure the backing of 5 per cent of constituency Labour branches or at least three affiliate groups, two of which must be made up of trade unions.
Sir Keir has already been backed for leader by Unison, one of the country’s largest trade unions.
Unite is expected to back Ms Long-Bailey – labelled the ‘continuity candidate’ by her critics – with the trade union’s general secretary Len McCluskey closely aligned with Mr Corbyn.
The others in the so-called ‘big four’ of trade unions – GMB and Usdaw – will be sought after by the remaining candidates, along with other smaller worker representative organisations.
Those who fail to secure enough union backing face a trek across the country in the coming weeks to convince constituency Labour Party (CLP) branches to nominate them.
A total of 33 CLPs would be needed to make it onto the ballot paper, which will be finalised on February 14.
Members will vote on the final list of names and elect a new leader on April 4.
Mr Lewis will use a speech to set out his vision for the Labour leadership today as he looks to claw on and stay in the contest.
Both the shadow Treasury spokesman and Ms Thornberry face a race against time to remain in the battle for the top job, with the deadline for nominations from MPs and MEPs looming on Monday.
Struggling Mr Lewis, who is on the left of the party, will use a speech in London to lay out his plans for the party if he does win the contest to replace Jeremy Corbyn as leader.
Speaking on BBC’s Question Time, he said Labour needed to collaborate with ‘other parties and movements’ in order to mount a challenge to the Conservatives in five years’ time.
He said the party had ‘paid a price’ for failing to strike a deal with other Remain-supporting parties at the election.
Addressing Labour’s future, the Norwich South MP told the panel-show audience: ‘Ultimately, unless the Labour Party can appeal to the centre ground of British politics then you know, you’re right, it can’t win.
‘But the centre ground of British politics changes and shifts.
‘So if we’re talking about democratising the economy, if we’re talking about giving ourselves a sense of ownership and agency in our lives, then these are things which aren’t necessarily just socialist, these are things which we all want.’
Who is backing who in the Labour leadership race?
Labour MPs have begun nominating their preferred candidate for the next leader of the party. The nominations are public and due to be updated every day until January 13. Here are the nominations so far:
Keir Starmer:
Debbie Abrahams
Rushanara Ali
Margaret Beckett
Paul Blomfield
Nicholas Brown
Tracy Brabin
Ben Bradshaw
Karen Buck
Bambos Charalambous
Judith Cummins
Alex Cunningham
Janet Daby
Wayne David
Geraint Davies
Thangam Debbonaire
Anneliese Dodds
Stephen Doughty
Angela Eagle
Maria Eagle
Clive Efford
Bill Esterson
Chris Evans
Preet Gill
Emma Hardy
Carolyn Harris
John Healey
Mike Hill
George Howarth
Rupa Huq
Kevan Jones
Sarah Jones
Barbara Keeley
David Lammy
Seema Malhotra
Chris Matheson
Steve McCabe
Kerry McCarthy
Conor McGinn
Jim McMahon
Anna McMorrin
Stephen Morgan
Jessica Morden
Matthew Pennycook
Toby Perkins
Bridget Phillipson
Steve Reed
Christina Rees
Ellie Reeves
Jonathan Reynolds
Marie Rimmer
Andrew Slaughter
Virendra Sharma
Tulip Siddiq
Nick Smith
Karin Smyth
Jo Stevens
Mark Tami
Stephen Timms
Nick Thomas-Symonds
Valerie Vaz
Alan Whitehead
Mohammad Yasin
Daniel Zeichner
Emily Thornberry:
Alex Davies-Jones
Nia Griffith
Fabian Hamilton
Meg Hillier
Gerald Jones
Gareth Thomas
Liz Twist
Catherine West
Matthew Western
Clive Lewis:
Clive Lewis
Rachael Maskell
Julie Ward
Nadia Whittome
Rebecca Long Bailey:
Diane Abbott
Tahir Ali
Paula Barker
Apsana Begum
Olivia Blake
Ian Byrne
Peter Dowd
Mary Foy
Margaret Greenwood
Rachel Hopkins
Imran Hussain
Kim Johnson
Ian Lavery
Rebecca Long-Bailey
Andy McDonald
John McDonnell
Ian Mearns
Navendu Mishra
Grahame Morris
Kate Osborne
Angela Rayner
Bell Ribeiro-Addy
Zarah Sultana
Claudia Webbe
Mick Whitley
Beth Winter
Jess Phillips:
Tonia Antoniazzi
Chris Bryant
Liam Byrne
Ruth Cadbury
Neil Coyle
Seb Dance
Rosie Duffield
Julie Elliott
Colleen Fletcher
Margaret Hodge
John Howarth
Darren Jones
Liz Kendall
Peter Kyle
Holly Lynch
Siobhan McDonagh
Pat McFadden
Alison McGovern
Catherine McKinnell
Ian Murray
Jess Phillips
Wes Streeting
Lisa Nandy:
Jon Ashworth
Kevin Brennan
Feryal Clark
Rosie Cooper
Jon Cruddas
Tan Dhesi
Jack Dromey
Yvonne Fovargue
Vicky Foxcroft
Gill Furniss
Lilian Greenwood
Louise Haigh
Mark Hendrick
Sharon Hodgson
Mike Kane
Stephen Kinnock
Emma Lewell-Buck
Justin Madders
Alex Norris
Lisa Nandy
Sarah Owen
Stephanie Peacock
Graham Stringer
Derek Twigg
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