The former Commons leader beat the education secretary in a two-horse race that was widely seen as a referendum on Sir Keir Starmer's leadership.

THE councillor at the centre of the Israeli football fans ban is a friend of the favourite to be Labour’s next deputy leader. Waseem Zaffar is campaigning for Lucy Powell to become PM Sir Keir

he received wisdom that Lucy Powell will win in Labour’s deputy leadership contest is so embedded in this race, now in its final furlong, that even Kemi Badenoch – not much of a Labour whisperer – felt confident enough to describe Powell as the “soon to be deputy leader” in the House of Commons this week.

Lucy Powell, MP for Manchester Central, wrote to then-deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner late last year on behalf of Tom Bloxham, chair of Mancunian property developers Urban Splash. Mr Bloxham donated £8,807 to the Labour Party in 2020, and ‘bumped into’ Ms Powell at a networking event days before she wrote to Angela Rayner, The Guardian reports.

If Lucy Powell is the answer, then what is the question? The assumed victor in Labour’s unexpected and unwanted deputy leadership contest, following the dramatic departure of Angela Rayner, believes that she is just the woman to ensure a course correction by Keir Starmer’s Government.