Education secretary says she aims to ‘unite our great party and deliver for working people’
Who is in the running for deputy leader?
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has thrown her hat in the ring for the Labour deputy leadership contest, immediately becoming the favourite to win as she is most likely to meet the threshold of MP nominations.
While Labour party members, many of whom are to the left of Keir Starmer’s leadership, could be suspicious of her role as a serving cabinet minister, she will be seen by backbenchers as Downing Street’s de facto candidate.
Allies of Phillipson also believe she has “a good story to tell” from her time running the department for education – expanding free school meal provision and childcare support for new parents, as well as fighting to do more to tackle child poverty.
