Three MPs remain in the running to become the next leader of the Labour party.
More than half a million members of the party — as well as one-off “registered supporters” — will choose a leader, to be announced on April 4.
Whoever wins faces a number of challenges after Labour suffered its worst defeat in 80 years in December’s general election.
He or she also faces a dilemma over whether to continue down the “hard left” path of outgoing leader Jeremy Corbyn or choose a more “centrist” direction for Britain’s main opposition party.
Under Labour’s convoluted rules, candidates had to first secure the support of at least 22 Labour MPs or MEPs. They then needed to get the backing of either 5 per cent of constituency Labour parties (387 decided to back a candidate in the 2015 contest won by Mr Corbyn) or three affiliate bodies, including two trade unions.
Jess Phillips, the backbench MP for Birmingham Yardley who scraped into the contest with nominations from 23 MPs and MEPs, dropped out after failing to secure the support of a single constituency Labour party or union.
Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, failed to make it through to the final round after she missed the threshold of 33 constituency Labour party nominations by two.
Keir Starmer was the first to qualify for the membership ballot after gaining the support of two unions, Unison and Usdaw. Lisa Nandy and Rebecca Long Bailey have also made it into the final round of the contest.
Who are the candidates?
Starmer
The former director of public prosecutions entered parliament in 2015. Sir Keir, 57, was never a loyalist “Corbynista” but he accepted the plum job of shadow Brexit secretary, which he used to score repeated tactical defeats against the government during the three years of parliamentary warfare over leaving the EU.
Although he scored highest in a YouGov poll of Labour members, his London metropolitan roots and his gender — the party has never had a female leader — could count against him.
Long Bailey
The 40-year-old former solicitor was first elected to parliament in 2015 and rose rapidly through the ranks after she became one of the few MPs to back Mr Corbyn in the leadership contest that year.
Her loyalty was rewarded with a senior job as shadow business secretary. As the “continuity candidate” she has got the backing of shadow chancellor John McDonnell and the pro-Corbyn support group Momentum. Unite the Union is also expected to support her.
Nandy
A “soft left” MP with close links to the unions, she served as energy secretary in Mr Corbyn’s first shadow cabinet.
The 40-year-old MP for Wigan has long argued that Labour needs to win back support in towns in northern England and has been a prominent advocate for the result of the EU referendum to be respected. She has previously compared her criticism from pro-Corbyn supporters with abuse from the far-right, saying it had left her “genuinely frightened”.
Withdrew or eliminated
Thornberry
Emily Thornberry was eliminated from the contest on February 14 after she was unable to meet the threshold for constituency Labour party or affiliate nominations.
Phillips
Jess Phillips withdrew on January 21 after concluding she was not the person to unite the party. She endorsed Lisa Nandy the next day.
Lewis
Clive Lewis withdrew on the day of the nomination deadline after he was unable to obtain the support of more than a handful of MPs.
Source: Labour, CLP Nominations
Additional work by Martin Stabe
