Former minister Louise Haigh pitches in with call for ‘economic reset’ as reports suggest candidates will have only four days to secure MP nominations
Good morning. The Labour party has had 18 deputy leaders in its history, but only two of them have also served as deputy PM and one of those, Angela Rayner, resigned last week. In the reshuffle that started on Friday, Keir Starmer in effect decoupled those posts, appointing David Lammy as deputy PM (as well as justice secretary). Labour said there would be an election for a new deputy leader to replace Rayner and today the timetable for that election will be set. There is no guarantee that the winner will even have a job in government.
Elections are, by definition, divisive, and the easiest option for Keir Starmer would be for Labour MPs to coalesce behind one consensus candidate. Under the rules, an MP needs the support of 20% of the PLP (80 MPs) to be nominated and so it is possible that this could happen. Anyone perceived as a “rebel” candidate might struggle to reach this threshold. Ministers, and cabinet ministers, are free to enter the contest. If Lammy were to stand, and win, he could re-unite the deputy PM and deputy leader jobs, but there is a strong sense in the party that the deputy leader should be a woman, and should represent a seat outside London, and Lammy does not seem interested anyway. At this point there is no obvious favourite, but Annabelle Dickson and Bethany Dawson have a good guide to potential candidates in their London Playbook for Politico.
