Why is Emily Thornberry set to drop out of the Labour leadership race?

The shadow foreign secretary has failed to translate her prominence in the party into support, writes John Rentoul

Thornberry at hustings in Bristol earlier this month (Getty)

The deadline for nominations to be Labour leader is tomorrow, and it looks as if Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, will fail to gain sufficient support to put her name on the ballot paper that goes to party members.

She needs to secure nominations either from three affiliated organisations or from 33 constituency Labour parties (CLPs). She has no prospect of picking up a nomination from any affiliate, so for some time her only chance of staying in the contest has been by winning nominations from local parties.

As of last night, she had 26 nominations, still seven short of the target – as tallied by a Twitter account called CLP Nominations. Many local parties will be meeting to vote on their nominations tonight, but at the current rate Thornberry is not going to make it.