Clive Lewis and Emily Thornberry launch final bids for leadership nominations from Labour MPs
2 min read
Clive Lewis and Emily Thornberry will launch their final bids for nominations from fellow MPs in their attempts to make it onto the Labour leadership ballot paper.
The pair remain well short of the 22 names they need to make it through to the next stage of the contest.
Ahead of the deadline of 2.30pm on Monday, Ms Thornberry has 10 signatories while Mr Lewis only has four.
Sir Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long Bailey, Lisa Nandy and Jess Phillips have managed to reach the threshold already.
Norwich South MP Mr Lewis- who has said he would hold a referendum on the future of the monarchy if he were Prime Minister - admitted he faced an uphill battle to get the numbers required.
He told Sky News: "Clearly I wish my mum could nominate me as well, that would be fantastic wouldn’t it? But it’s not quite in the rules.
"Look, it’s hard and I think some of the things that I’m saying aren’t necessarily things which everyone after a devastating defeat want to hear but the reality is that unless we transform ourselves as a party, transform how we organise, transform the culture of our party, stop the tribalism within our party, we won’t be able to win in the next five years."
Shadow Foreign Secretary Ms Thornberry, meanwhile, insisted she was confident of making it through to the next stage.
She told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "There is a large number of MPs who haven't nominated yet.
"From the conversations I have had this weekend I am fairly confident that, as long as I don't get any slippage, I will be fine. I am going to get across the line and then we will move on to the next stage.
"It is a long contest and it will have its ups and downs. I have been a slow starter, but I did start from a standing start after the general election."
DEPUTY LEADERSHIP
Deputy leadership candidates are also going through the same process. Angela Rayner and Ian Murray have passed the threshold, leaving Rosena Allin-Khan, Richard Burgon and Dawn Butler trying to get the required number of nominations by 2.30.
Once they have secured the backing of enough MPs and MEPs, leadership and deputy leadership candidates must get the backing of at least 33 Constituency Labour Parties or three affiliate organisations, two of which must be trade unions.
The winners will be announced at a special conference on 4 April.
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