Emily Thornberry was knocked out of the Labour leadership race after failing to meet the criteria
The Shadow Foreign Secretary failed to garner enough nominations from local Labour branches to go forward to a vote of party members.
The Islington South and Finsbury MP needed 33 constituency parties to nominate her but had reached only 31.
Just hours before the deadline closed on Friday night it became apparent that she would fail to get the backing from the required 33 constituency Labour parties to send her through to the last round.
It leaves the leadership contest as a three-way race between Sir Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy.
The failure to convince other local parties means she will not get her name on the ballot paper that goes out to members, who have until 2 April to vote for who they want to succeed Jeremy Corbyn. She had staked her hopes on also winning the backing of several other local parties who were due to report on Friday night. In the event three backed Starmer and two backed Long-Bailey.
Meanwhile Ms Long-Bailey laid into her rivals for the top job.
The Salford MP, who trails frontrunner and Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer in the leadership race, insisted she was “the only candidate that has a worked-out path to power”.
Claiming she has “great respect and admiration for the other candidates”, she said while backbench hopeful Lisa Nandy “has laid out a solid analysis of why we lost … I’ve not heard from her yet what the answer is”.
Sir Starmer’s vote losing second referendum policy
She hailed Sir Starmer’s “rigorous and detailed at the Despatch Box”.
But rightly so, she appeared to blame him for Labour’s second Brexit referendum policy, she added: “He helped us win a lot of votes in Parliament last year.
“But we didn’t win the election – and that was partly to do with Brexit and partly because too many voters thought we looked like just another bunch of politicians in Westminster.”
Instead, she heaped praise on the outgoing party hierarchy, including Mr Corbyn, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott.
Insisting she was the person to carry on their work, Mrs Long-Bailey said: “I’ve learned so much from Jeremy, John and Diane.
“They helped our party and our movement rediscover its heart and soul.
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