Who Is Running In Labour’s Deputy Leader Race
Angela Rayner as deputy prime minister and deputy leader at the Labour Party conference 2024 in Liverpool (Credit: GaryRobertsphotography/Alamy Live News)
8 min read
When Angela Rayner was found to have breached the ministerial code over her failure to pay the correct amount of stamp duty on a new home, she resigned from both her government and Labour Party roles. That has left a vacancy the Prime Minister cannot fill with a direct appointment: the deputy leader.
The post was created all the way back in 1922, when Ramsay MacDonald gave it to JR Clynes after beating him in a leadership challenge. But the last time a deputy leadership election was held without a concurrent leadership one was 1981 – the famous Tony Benn challenge to Denis Healey, the result of which defined the future of the Labour Party.
With the Labour government struggling in the polls and often finding it difficult to drive its agenda through despite a huge majority, this race is set to be fought in the context of what Keir Starmer is getting wrong.
While some around the Prime Minister would have preferred to quash such an ill-timed, potentially divisive internal election, abolishing the deputy leader post altogether as some suggested would have required a rule change, meaning a vote at Labour conference and by extension the support of trade unions. It was thought the leadership would not be able to secure such agreement for the move.
The alternative, then, was to run a full contest, which general secretary Hollie Ridley confirmed would be going ahead in an email to MPs on Friday. The memo contained a warning: “the Labour Party’s primary duty is to serve the country”, she wrote, and the election “will therefore be conducted in a manner that befits the party of government”.
In the minds of those at the top of the party, speed is key to ensuring this minimal disruption to government. The party rulebook is clear, however, that the contest must – even when the party is in power – involve nominations from MPs, local parties (requiring all-member constituency meetings) and affiliates. These stages take time, and there is no legal way around them.
Labour’s ruling national executive committee (NEC) will meet on Monday, and there is expected to be clarity on the process and timeline by around lunchtime. PoliticsHome is told the full process will be followed as set out in the rules: candidates need to be nominated by at least 20 per cent of MPs and either five per cent of local parties or three affiliates including two trade unions; they are then put to members in a preferential ballot. As for length, it is not set to conclude at party conference, which would be impossible given the rules, but according to well-placed sources it will not go on until Christmas either.
First, the possible pro-leadership candidates. The early favourite was Shabana Mahmood, the Birmingham MP liked by chief of staff Morgan McSweeney (and the Blue Labour group) and seen as most qualified. But after being moved from the Ministry of Justice to the great office of Home Secretary, would she really want to spend her first weeks in such a big job dealing with an internal election – and run the risk of not winning?
David Lammy, given the Deputy PM gong as well as a demotion to Justice Secretary, is one obvious choice. But while it is not impossible he becomes the preferred candidate – “the hope is everyone united behind David Lammy maybe,” suggests one loyal MP – it is widely seen as necessary and desirable to have a woman in the role for gender balance.
Ellie Reeves was being talked about instead, but she has now been moved out of the party chair role (which performs a similarly membership-facing role as deputy leader). She is replaced by leadership loyalist Anna Turley, who has had a big promotion – from a whip to attending Cabinet – but she has confirmed to PoliticsHome she will not be running.
Alison McGovern, now a housing minister, is a northern woman who is rumoured to be interested and could be a good option for the leadership. She is a former Progress chair, thus on Labour's right rather than the 'soft left', but is widely liked.
Now for the options from the soft left of the party – of which there are many. Seen as an important race for Labour’s middle, one soft left source described it as “an organise or die moment” for them.
The charismatic Tooting MP Dr Rosena Allin-Khan ran for the deputy leadership in 2020 and did well, coming second to Rayner. A source close to her told PoliticsHome: “Rosena has had lots of people get in touch encouraging her to stand. She has the potential to unite both wings of the party as she isn’t part of any faction. I’m sure she’s giving it lots of consideration before deciding whether or not to stand.”
Dawn Butler, who ran in 2020 and was eliminated first among the five deputy candidates, is thought to be considering a fresh bid. She is perhaps most accurately described as ‘hard soft left’.
And Emily Thornberry is mulling it over. She was brutally dropped from the Cabinet when Labour got in but did not cause trouble for Starmer afterwards and quietly became the Foreign Affairs Committee chair. The Islington MP is today more openly critical, however, saying on the BBC that “domestically things just don't seem to be working” and “we can't afford to keep doing this” – which sounds a bit like a pitch.
All three are London MPs, however, which could prove controversial with colleagues in the Commons. One says it would “play awfully” in Red Wall areas. “The top team is now very southern-heavy,” noted another.
Oxford’s Anneliese Dodds and Luton’s Sarah Owen are also being discussed. “They might as well be Londoners,” the same MP noted. But both are female, soft left and well-liked in the party. Dodds got kudos for quitting her international development post over policy, while Owen helpfully has a union background as a former GMB political officer.
Louise Haigh, the former transport secretary who quit after it emerged she had a fraud conviction, would also be well-placed thanks to good relations with unions. A friend of Rayner, she is seen as a potentially tricky deputy for Starmer. Yet an ally told PoliticsHome she is not planning to run as it would be too soon after her departure from Cabinet (which many of her friends found unfair). The leadership would breathe a sigh of relief if that turned out to be right.
No 10 could do worse, some say, than persuading Lisa Nandy, who lost the leadership race to Starmer, to run. She has remained as Culture Secretary despite briefings against her and could be the solution to their problems: soft left but loyal while in the Cabinet; female; Northern; well-liked. She is described as “not the end of the world” and “basically a good thing” by one loyalist. Nandy declined to comment when approached.
Lucy Powell, the Manchester MP close to Andy Burnham, has just left government and has confirmed to PoliticsHome that she is thinking about a bid after being encouraged by colleagues.
A reminder: Andy Burnham has criticised the leadership for not being “inclusive enough” on the BBC this morning – but he cannot run himself, as the deputy leader must be an MP. He backed “someone from these parts”, i.e. Manchester, and suggested Haigh or Powell for the job.
From the Labour left proper, former leadership candidate Clive Lewis is understood not to be running. Nadia Whittome could be a similar alternative, however, or Diane Abbott ally Bell Ribeiro-Addy. Richard Burgon, meanwhile, has posted his thoughts on the deputy leadership without confirming whether they constitute a pitch for the job. Crucially, the nomination threshold of 80 MPs – raised by the Starmer leadership in 2021 – is thought to be too high for anyone deemed a Corbynite to secure a place on the ballot paper.
One left MP said they were hearing the Socialist Campaign Group was “determined to run a candidate” but added they “personally think it's a mistake”. “It’s a mess and we need to agree a left candidate.”
Other ideas floated include independent-minded old hand Stella Creasy, also thought to be interested in the London mayoralty, senior Hackney MP Meg Hillier, who helped organise the welfare rebellion before forcing the first climbdown on them, and new intake MP Miatta Fahnbnulleh, though she has stayed in government, moving from energy to housing. Ed Miliband has also been mentioned, thanks mostly to his high approval ratings among members in LabourList surveys, but this would be an extraordinary move to make.
For No 10, the best-case scenario would be to find a candidate with enough breadth of support and popularity among colleagues and party members to win, and to avoid an open contest. With discontent high among MPs, however, that could be a tough ask.
“I can’t see a path for anyone in government bound by collective agreement winning an open race in the current context,” a senior Labour MP warns.
