Five candidates have made it onto the ballot paper for deputy leader of the Labour party. Tom Watson and Caroline Flint have long had the 35 nominations required to make it into the contest, but until this morning, it was looking to be a two-horse race. But with just under an hour to go until the nominations closed, Rushanara Ali, the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, withdrew her candidacy to help get others on the ballot paper. In the nick of time, her 24 backers flocked elsewhere to ensure Stella Creasy, Ben Bradshaw and Angela Eagle (who were all struggling to find 35 backers) had enough support.
With a good variety candidates in the running, the deputy leadership contest has the potential to be more interesting than the leadership race. In particular, one movement to watch is the campaign within the PLP to stop Tom Watson. In particular, MPs are concerned about his disastrous direction of resources during the 2015 campaign as well as his ties to Unite’s Len McCluskey, who he used to share a flat with. If Andy Burnham is successful in his Labour leader bid, the Tories will stick up posters of the pair with the caption ‘Len’s boys’. That’s all they need for the next five years of political attacks.
Many in Labour are aware of this threat, hence the last moment manoeuvres to make it into a wider contest. Angela Eagle, Ben Bradshaw or Caroline Flint have yet to show they are inspiring candidates, while Stella Creasy has made waves with her Liz Kendall-esque ‘change everything’ approach. If Labour decides to pull apart everything the party stands for over the next 12 weeks, Creasy might have a chance. But Watson remains the favourite to win — he had the most MPs backing him. Now it’s more than just Watson vs. Flint, the ‘anyone but Tom Watson’ campaign will be rejoicing in their first victory and planning their next move.
UPDATE: Guido reports that Watson was actively dissuading MPs from backing Creasy, Bradshaw and Eagle in an attempt to keep them off the ballot paper.
Odds on next deputy leader of the Labour Party: Tom Watson 4/5, Stella Creasy 5/2, Caroline Flint 4/1, Angela Eagle 10/1 and Ben Bradshaw 20/1 (via Ladbrokes)
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