LISA Nandy has joined Keir Starmer on the final ballot for the Labour leadership after securing the support of the affiliate group Chinese For Labour.
The move came as Jess Phillips, who pulled out of the leadership race earlier this week, came out in support of the Wigan MP.
Ms Phillips, who represents Birmingham Yardley, also boosted the chances of Ian Murray as she also pledged her support to the Edinburgh MP in his bid for the deputy leadership role.
The backing of Chinese for Labour meant Ms Nandy had cleared the threshold to place her name on the final ballot paper; she had already been nominated for the leadership by the GMB and NUM trade unions.
The former Shadow Energy Secretary, whose father is Indian, said: "As someone of mixed heritage, I'm incredibly proud that it is Chinese For Labour who have secured my place on the ballot paper."
Ms Nandy, 40, stressed that she was "looking forward to getting out intro the country and laying out my vision for reuniting the party, rebuilding trust, and returning Labour to power at the next election".
Ms Phillips explained that while she would support both Sir Keir and Ms Nandy among the remaining four contenders, the Wigan MP would be her "number one preference".
"I've said that right now, I can't bring the party together and that's why I have withdrawn from the race. Both Lisa and Keir can unite the party and begin the process of winning back trust with the country.”
In backing Mr Murray for the deputy’s role, Ms Phillips insisted the Scot had put forward a "positive vision" for the party. "Labour must be a party for every region and nation of the UK, standing up for our values of solidarity and working together, and Ian is the candidate who best understands that,” she said.
Mr Murray said he was “honoured” to have his colleague’s support and stressed: “My message is simple: if you are happy and satisfied with the current position of the Labour Party, then don’t vote for me. I want us to change so we can win again.”
Last night, Emily Thornberry, another contender for the leadership, denied she was "sneering" at voters when she laughed at a colleague's claim that anyone who did not hate Brexit had "something wrong" with them.
The Shadow Foreign Secretary insisted she was in fact reacting with shock at her colleague Dawn Butler's remarks.
During a grilling by the BBC's Andrew Neil Ms Thornberry was shown a video in which she sat next to Ms Butler and laughed at her remark that "if anyone doesn't hate Brexit, even if you voted for it, there's something wrong with you because Brexit has not been good for the country".
But the London MP defended herself, saying she had laughed because she was "quite shocked" at her colleague's "most extraordinary" remarks, declaring: "I was not sneering."
Ms Thornberry said Labour could win back voters by "listening to people" and certainly not by looking down on them.
Elsewhere, Rebecca Long-Bailey told the BBC Labour had "a great set of policies" at the election but had got its "messaging" wrong.
"Our messaging really didn't resonate with voters,” admitted the Salford MP. “We should have been talking about aspiration and how all of the things within our manifesto would improve your life, would improve the outcome for businesses in our areas, but we didn't say that.
"Quite often we talked about handouts and how we will help people, rather than providing that broad positive vision of the future," she told Laura Kuenssberg.
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