Jess Phillips today confirmed she will back Lisa Nandy for Labour leader – a day after dropping out of the race.
The straight-talking candidate cut short her run yesterday admitting she could not unite the wings of the party.
Today a spokesman for Ms Phillips confirmed she would vote for Lisa Nandy as her first preference, and Keir Starmer as her second preference.
Because Keir Starmer is the frontrunner along with left-wing favourite Rebecca Long-Bailey, the decision is likely to benefit him the most and hurt Ms Long-Bailey the most.
But it is also a big boost for Ms Nandy, who yesterday secured a coveted nomination from the GMB union.
(Image: Leon Neal)
A spokesman for Ms Phillips said: “Jess will be backing the candidates who she thinks can bring the party together and win back the trust of the electorate.
“She will be voting for Lisa and Keir. As she has said before, Lisa will be her first preference choice.”
Ms Nandy entered the Labour leadership race as the bookies’ long shot and is still trailing behind Keir Starmer and Rebecca Long-Bailey.
Odds were slashed on her unlikely victory as she appeared to be sweeping up centrist Labour votes yesterday, and was backed by the Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy.
But she still faces an uphill struggle to win in Labour’s voting system – which eliminates one candidate in each round and reassigns their second preferences until someone gets 50% of the overall vote.
That means unless Ms Nandy gets more first preference votes from members than Ms Long-Bailey or Sir Keir, she will be knocked out of the contest.
Either way, the move could put left-wing favourite Rebecca Long-Bailey at a disadvantage.
A YouGov poll of 1,005 Labour members last week showed 60% of Jess Phillips’ supporters would give their second preference to Keir Starmer, with another 25% flipping to Lisa Nandy.
If Ms Nandy is knocked out, 49% of her second preferences would go to Keir Starmer compared to 20% to Rebecca Long-Bailey.
In a video message to her supporters yesterday, Ms Phillips announced she was withdrawing from the Labour Party leadership race.
(Image: Christopher Furlong)
In the video to campaign supporters and to the tens of thousands of people who have recently joined the Labour Party, Jess said:
“I truly believe that unless we talk to the country on their terms, not just on ours, that we won’t be able to make the gains we need to win an election – and [to] do what everyone in the Labour movement wants to do, and that is make people’s lives better.
“In order to do that, the Labour Party will need to select a candidate that can unite all parts of our movement – the union movement, the members and elected representatives – I have to be honest that at this time, that person isn’t me”
“In order to win the country, we are going to have to find a candidate in this race who can do that and take that message out to the country of hope and change for things to be better.”
Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry meanwhile is struggling to get enough nominations from local parties before a deadline to get on the ballot on February 14.
She needs the backing of either 3 affiliate groups or 5% of constituency Labour parties to qualify.
