Why the race for Labour’s next number two matters

Plus: Tell us who you want to win in our poll, the latest from The Lead's northern titles, and everything our team is reading and listening to this week.

Bridget Phillipson and Lucy Powell Pic: UK Parliament/Flickr

The race for Labour’s deputy leader has come down to two northern women: Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary and Lucy Powell, former cabinet minister turned backbencher. Today, at 5pm, their nominations were secured, and on the 25th October, the winner will be announced.

Their candidacies represent different approaches, different instincts, and a chance to define what role the deputy leader should play at a moment of mounting pressure and rising danger for the government.

The deputy leadership is hardly glamorous, but it matters. At its best, it can knit the party together, cool tempers when tensions run high, and bring disgruntled voices back into the tent. At its worst, it risks becoming a vanity project or a permanent internal opposition, a slow drag and distraction for the party. For this government that is still struggling to find its way, the choice of deputy will signal whether the party prioritises internal stability or is ready to get campaigning.

Phillipson enters the contest with formidable support, with lots of MPs backing her nomination and the quiet nods of senior Cabinet colleagues. She is seen as a serious, effective communicator, traits that have made her a safe pair of hands in one of the most challenging government briefs. As Education Secretary, she has expanded breakfast clubs, boosted childcare provision, and remained defiant in the face of loud opposition to imposing VAT on private schools. She has shown how to unite the party around policies that can genuinely improve opportunities for families and communities across the country. Her pitch to MPs has been one of unity: a promise to bridge Labour’s factions and the membership. If elected, Phillipson would be the deputy most aligned with the leadership, offering reassurance to a No. 10 keen to keep the show on the road, and a government that must prioritise delivery for families and communities across Britain.

Powell, by contrast, has built her case on the freedom of the backbenches. Without departmental responsibilities, she argues, she could devote herself to being a campaigning deputy: visible in the country, energising members, and ensuring Labour’s grassroots do not feel overlooked now the party is in power. She draws on her long record as a loyal party figure and her reputation for plainspoken clarity. Crucially, she could be a welcome anchor to the soft-left, a role Angela Rayner exemplified, and offer ideological balance to the leadership’s rightward shift. Powell casts herself as the voice who will ensure Labour stays connected to its base, and, in turn, to the voters whose support Labour must sustain to govern effectively.

Labour’s recent history offers cautionary tales. Deputies have sometimes been lightning rods for dissent (as Tom Watson became under Jeremy Corbyn) and frustrated figureheads with little influence, a trap Angela Rayner occasionally fell into. Harriet Harman’s steadier tenure demonstrated that the office can weather storms if the leader allows it to. Meanwhile, John Prescott, deputy for well over a decade under Tony Blair, combined loyalty with toughness, bridging party factions while maintaining Labour’s connection to its working-class base. From Prescott, the next deputy should take some lessons: the role does not just smooth prickly factional disputes, it can ensure coherent government, stable leadership, and policies that reach far across Britain.

Ultimately, the influence of the deputy leader does not automatically stem from its title. So much rides in the candidate's ability to unify, campaign and advocate for the leadership, the membership, and for the wider public Labour is elected to serve. The next deputy must be someone who can speak to members without alienating ministers, reflect the mood in the country without undermining collective responsibility, and ensure Labour delivers on its commitments. Renewal will not come from relitigating old battles, nor from treating the deputyship as a consolation prize, but by broadening the party’s appeal and advocating for the coalition that delivered victory.

Whether that means Phillipson’s promise of unity or Powell’s call for campaigning energy is for the membership to decide. But this can not just be about choosing a second-in-command. The deputy could change the trajectory of the governing party if it defines how Labour governs, connects with its movement, and delivers for a country eager for change.

Here at The Lead, this is how we’ll be considering the deputy leadership contest until it concludes at the end of October. Can it elevate someone who embodies renewal and inclusivity, who balances loyalty with openness, and who will ensure the government doesn’t forget the voters who put it there? That is the standard by which the next deputy must be judged.

This can be a re-set for this Labour government. The next deputy must be someone who can bridge divides within the party and across the country, strengthening both Labour and the Britain it serves.■

About the author: Zoë Grünewald is Westminster Editor at The Lead and a freelance political journalist and broadcaster. Zoë then worked as a policy and politics reporter at the New Statesman, before joining the Independent as a political correspondent. When not writing about politics and policy, she is a regular commentator on TV and radio and a panellist on the Oh God What Now podcast.

The Lead is keeping an eye on Reform UK and their fellow travellers. Get in touch on X, Bluesky and Instagram or email ella@thelead.uk with tips and stories. We especially want to hear from readers whose local council is now run by Farage’s followers.

• In Blackpool – as reported by our sister title The Blackpool Lead – Reform councillor Jim O’Neill has accused his party of becoming ToryLite… “but only accepting their rejects”. On that note, Nadine Dorries (formerly the health minister under Boris Johnson) has now joined Reform, and isn’t ruling out a return to frontline politics with the party.

• Meanwhile, Reform has lost another councillor. Kent’s Amelia Randall has defected to UKIP just days after expressing support for Reform UK online, stating: “It is time that we embed Christianity deep within the soul of our country and that is the only way to save Britain. Now more than ever!” And another one bites the dust.

• Nigel Farage has told the government not to bother announcing their Northern Powerhouse Rail [NPR] plans, which would see high speed lines between Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds. Reform UK would immediately reverse them, he said. As The Yorkshire Post pointed out, Farage’s reasoning (that the trains would take longer) is based on a big misconception. The case for NPR is “not about speed but capacity,” and early research suggested NPR would bring access for 10m people – up from 2.2m.

• North Northamptonshire Council is the most recent council to scrap its net-zero targets. The executive team voted on Tuesday to delay the borough’s target from 2030 to 2050, the latest it can happen under UK law. It follows similar moves by Reform-controlled Durham County Council and West Northamptonshire Council. We wonder if it has anything to do with the millions of pounds in donations given to Reform by those with fossil fuel interests, highly polluting industries, and climate science deniers, including for its recent conference.

The Lead Digest

Here at The Lead, we like to consume just as much as we create, which is why we spend a little time each week rounding up our favourite stories, books, podcasts and films to offer our readers a sample of the work that informs our world.

Ella loved this quick read by Rachel Connolly in the Guardian, about the ‘performative male’ meme, which, as most things, was fun before the media and (as Rachel points out) its cottage industry of so-called relationship experts got their claws on it.

Ed recommends JP Spencer’s look at the future of local services in the north, via his Substack Future North, which includes some stark graphs regarding life expectancy and child poverty in the North of England and includes some top-level looks at what some of the Metro Mayors have been doing.

Luke enjoyed the now-sober journalist Phil Daoust’s very honest account of '40 stupid years' of drinking and ‘f***ing biblical hangovers,’ also in the Guardian.

Natalie recommends the new investigative podcast from The Lead contributor Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff and Seren Jones. The Missing Sister tells the story of Joy Morgan who disappeared on Boxing Day in 2018. It is an incredibly powerful story about truth, lies, a young woman yearning to belong, and a family still waiting for answers.

At The Lead we have dedicated journalists and titles in Blackpool, Lancashire, Calderdale, Teesside and Southport bringing in-depth news and features twice-a-week to those communities. Do consider subscribing to support our vital local journalism.

• We’re off to the Press Gazette Future of Media Awards tonight where The Lead North is up for best regional/specialist newsletter. Fingers crossed!

• The NHS hospital league tables have made headlines this week, we dug into the data and the reasons behind the rankings for why both Blackpool and Preston saw their hospitals named as two of the worst-performing in England.

• Staying in Lancashire and the move by public bodies, businesses and schools to debunk myths over them being used to house asylum seekers is stepping up. Luke Beardsworth reports on how in the space of the last three weeks misinformation has been rife. As Cat Smith MP told us: “Stirring up uncertainty or fear based on rumours and not facts helps absolutely nobody, and this should not be used to divide our community or spread misinformation about asylum seekers - many of whom have fled conflicts and persecution.”

• Leigh Jones (the newly married Mr Jones that is - congrats from all of us!) sat writing his wedding speech and also keeping an eye on the live stream of Newcastle City Council making a big decision to withdraw from Teesworks incinerator scheme.

• And finally, we reported on the continuing boom of Halifax as a TV and film filming hotspot - as Kate Dearden MP went behind the scenes on CBBC show High Hopes filmed in the town.

Thanks for reading today’s newsletter. This weekend, we’ve got a special deep-dive heading your way from our reporter Ella Glover as she returns to her hometown of St Helens with a microphone and camera in hand, to test the temperature of the historically Red Wall region. As Ella retraces her steps through her old stomping grounds – the crumbling skate park, to the boarded-up town centre – she chats to locals to see if Reform UK are really touching a nerve here, and why Farage’s rhetoric is hitting home. It’s a powerful read, and paid subscribers will get to watch Ella’s short film that really brings the story to life. Make sure you’re subscribed to The Lead so you don’t miss a thing.

Zoë, Natalie, Ed, Luke, Ella, Padraig, and The Lead team.