Will Labour's Deputy Leadership Race Be A 'Proxy War' Between Keir Starmer And Andy Burnham?

Bridget Phillipson will go head-to-head with Lucy PowellBridget Phillipson is set to take on Lucy Powell to be Labour’s new deputy leader after both women gained enough support from their fellow MPs.Phillipson, the education secretary, is thought to have received nearly 200 nominations – well over the 80 needed to make it through to the next stage of the race.Analysis by Election Maps UK put Powell on 81 two hours before the deadline of 5pm on Thursday, and her final total is expected to be higher.The only remaining candidate, left-winger Bell Ribeiro-Addy, was on just 15 nominations and out of the race.An ally of Phillipson, who is seen as the No.10-approved candidate, described the result as “a bit of a rout”.Both her and Powell will now need to get enough support from constituency parties and affiliated unions to get through to the final ballot, when Labour members will be given the final say. The winner will be announced on October 25.Downing Street had hoped to hoped to avoid a contest altogether, fearing that a full-blown contest will lead to public criticism of Labour’s record in government so far.In addition, Powell is known to be angry at being sacked as Commons leader by Starmer in last week’s cabinet reshuffle, and is therefore more likely to attack his leadership.Senior party figures also believe that there will be an intriguing sub-plot to the contest, given Manchester Central MP Powell is a close ally of the city’s mayor, Andy Burnham.He is known to still harbour ambitions of returning to Westminster and becoming Labour leader, and has been vocal in his criticism of the PM in recent weeks.Andy Burnham has been critical of the culture within Keir Starmer's party.Burnham is also a leading supporter of Mainstream, a new group within Labour urging the leadership to change course on a range of policies.Following Peter Mandelson’s sacking as the UK’s ambassador to Washington, Mainstream’s national coordinator, Luke Hurst, said: “If Starmer keeps running a narrow and brittle political project it will break him and could break the Labour Party. We need a government and party of all the talents and all the views.”Speaking on his Political Currency podcast, former Labour cabinet minister Ed Balls said the deputy leadership contest will be a “proxy war” for the battle between Starmer and Burnham.He said: “This is not simply a bit of a distraction. This could turn out to be a much bigger problem for Keir Starmer and the government over the next year, especially if Bridget Phillipson doesn’t win.“Now they may have hoped she was going to be the only person who’d get the nominations, but that’s not how it’s going to turn out. It looks very likely it’ll be her and Lucy Powell, who’s just been sacked from the cabinet. Lucy Powell, a north west MP very close to Andy Burnham“So this is going to become Bridget Phillipson versus Lucy Powell, a proxy for Keir Starmer versus Andy Burnham.”Related...Bridget Phillipson Set To Face Lucy Powell In Fight To Become Labour Deputy LeaderWhat Labour's Reshuffle Means For Women’s Representation In GovernmentLabour Deputy Leadership Candidate Warns Starmer Party 'Can't Out-Reform Reform'

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Will Labour's Deputy Leadership Race Be A 'Proxy War' Between Keir Starmer And Andy Burnham?

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