The Labour leadership race has widened after three more MPs joined Keir Starmer by making it through the first round.
Rebecca Long Bailey, seen as the ‘continuity Corbyn’ candidate, Jess Phillips and Lisa Nandy all reached the threshold.
They now have to pick up enough support from either local parties or the unions to make it onto the ballot paper.
Mr Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, has already won the backing of Unison, the country’s biggest union.
But it leaves the two remaining candidates - Emily Thornberry and Clive Lewis - scrabbling around to get enough votes.
They need 22 MPs or MEPs to enter the race - and then either 33 constituency parties or 5% of unions or affiliates.
Mr Starmer now has 59 MPs and MEPs backing him, out of a total 212, while Ms Long Bailey has picked up 26, 15 of which are from the more left-wing 2019 intake.
Ms Nandy, on the soft Left of the party, has 23, while Ms Phillips, a moderate, has got 22.
Frontbencher Clive Lewis, a left-wing candidate, is expected to launch his campaign to take over from Jeremy Corbyn Friday.
However, with just 4 MPs backing him so far, he is likely to withdraw from the contest before next week.
Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry spent yesterday in one-to-one meetings with MPs, trying to get over the line.
She was spotted scurrying around the Commons in a bid to boost her faltering campaign - but has picked up just 7.
The leadership hopeful scored Mr Corbyn a brutal “0/10” as party leader for his election performance and was critical of how he handled anti-Semitism. But she praised his ability in “firing up the party”.
It comes after Ms Long Bailey gave the outgoing leader “10/10” when asked the question by ITV.
Senior Labour MP Barry Gardiner has confirmed he is mulling a shock bid for the Labour leadership - but he received no nominations.
The Shadow Trade Secretary said he was considering becoming the seventh candidate to give Brits a “better life”.
Mr Gardiner told the Mirror: “At the moment I am still considering it and I’m going to try and make a decision as soon as I possibly can.
“It’s really a matter of I want to heal the division in our country, I want to help people have a better life in a fairer Britain, it’s as simple as that really.”
Labour’s only Scottish MP Ian Murray has now joined favourite Angela Rayner in the final round of the deputy leadership contest, leaving Corbynite Richard Burgon trailing just below the threshold.
Leadership and deputy hopefuls have until Monday to secure the backing to get to the next round of the contest.
