Labour was on the brink of ‘civil war’ last night as MPs scrambled to replace Angela Rayner as its deputy leader.
Amid accusations that No 10 was trying to ‘stitch up’ the election, the party was accused of being ‘more focused on internal politics than on fixing the country’.
Labour’s ruling national executive committee yesterday announced a rapid six-week contest – with candidates given until 5pm on Thursday to secure nominations from 80 MPs.
The timetable was branded an effort to ‘dodge serious discussion’ on what has gone wrong for the party by one Left-wing MP, while others warned the contest would be a major distraction.
Nominations open today, with a hustings tomorrow, before they close on Thursday. Candidates will then have to secure the support of 5 per cent of constituency parties or three affiliates – including at least two trade unions.
The ballot for those who clear the nomination hurdles will open on October 8 and close at noon on October 23, with the result revealed two days later.
Labour backbencher Richard Burgon said: ‘What I’ve heard is now being proposed is the mother of all stitch-ups. This is a desperate move to keep Labour members’ voices out of this race and to dodge serious discussion.’
Another Labour MP told the Daily Mail that the deputy leadership contest would make the next few months ‘incredibly difficult’, adding: ‘It is more perilous than people appreciate – the ability to achieve anything that we’ve set out to achieve is just getting harder and harder.’
And demands over who fills the job are growing, with former deputy leader Baroness Harman saying yesterday: ‘It probably needs to be somebody from outside London and it definitely needs to be a woman.’
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today: ‘I don’t think we can have a male Prime Minister, a man as Deputy Prime Minister and a male deputy leader of the party.’
Housing minister Alison McGovern is being tipped as the candidate who may have No 10’s backing, while former Commons leader Lucy Powell is thought to be considering running.
Ex-transport secretary Louise Haigh last night ruled herself out of the race, saying she wants to stay on the backbenches where she can ‘speak plainly and campaign boldly’.
But backbencher Bell Ribeiro-Addy became the first person to officially declare she is throwing her hat in the ring.
The Labour MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill posted on X: ‘I am putting myself forward to stand as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.
‘I look forward to explaining why, over the three short and undemocratic days we have to do so.’
The successful candidate will not become Deputy PM and they are not guaranteed a government post.
Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake told the Daily Mail last night: ‘Britain faces serious and pressing challenges, yet Labour are too busy fighting their own civil war over who is the most Left-wing voice to take over from Angela Rayner.’
Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice said: ‘Labour appears more focused on internal politics than on fixing the country. Instead of a deputy leadership contest, maybe it is time for a general election.’
The PM’s spokesman said: ‘The entire Labour party is focused on delivering the change the country voted for.’
Meanwhile, at a Parliamentary Labour Party meeting last night, Sir Keir called Reform ‘plastic patriots’.
Referring to Nigel Farage’s trip to Washington last week, he said the Reform leader ‘called for sanctions against our country that would hit working people’.
