LONDON — U.K. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson will face the recently sacked Lucy Powell in the contest to be deputy leader of the ruling Labour Party.
Phillipson and Powell were the only two candidates to secure the support of the 80 Labour MPs needed to progress to the next stage of the contest when nominations closed on Thursday.
The contest was trigged by the resignation of Angela Rayner who quit last week over a failure to pay the correct amount of stamp duty on a flat purchase.
The education secretary is a close ally of Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Powell served as House of Commons leader until last Friday’s reshuffle, which was sparked by Rayner’s resignation.
Bell Ribeiro-Addy, seen as the most left-wing of the potential candidates, failed to gather enough nominations to make it to the next stage of the race.
Phillipson and Powell must now receive nominations from 5 percent of Constituency Labour Parties, or three organizations affiliated to Labour, two of which must be affiliated trade unions, before a ballot of members is held.
The contest comes at a tricky time for Starmer, who is under pressure following the departure of Peter Mandelson as British ambassador to Washington less than a week before Donald Trump’s second U.K. state visit, and ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ November budget.
The winner will be announced on October 25.
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