Jess Phillips drops out, Nandy nearly in, as Labour leadership contest field narrows
Jess Phillips has quit the race to lead the Labour party after conceding that she couldn’t secure enough support to stay in the contest.
But the fight to succeed Jeremy Corbyn is set to become a three-horse race after the GMB union gave its backing to Lisa Nandy, boosting her chances of making the final ballot and challenging the two front-runners, Sir Keir Starmer and Rebecca Long-Bailey.Candidates have until 14 February to secure nominations from 33 local constituency parties, or three Labour affiliates including two trade unions, representing at least 5 per cent of party members.
Ms Phillips had no endorsements from either local parties or affiliates, and admitted in a newspaper article that her performance in the first leadership hustings on Saturday had been “awful”.