Dame Emily Thornberry has dropped out of the race to replace Angela Rayner as Labour Party deputy leader.
It comes after she secured just 13 backers among Labour MPs on Wednesday night, well shy of the 80 needed to get through to the next round of the contest.
Only Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson passed that watermark, with 116, although former House of Commons leader Lucy Powell was only three short at 77.
Dame Emily, Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Paula Baker, the other three candidates, had just 42 supporters between them.
The chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee said she was “deeply grateful to all the Labour members who have shared their support” as she announced her withdrawal from the competition.
“It has been a privilege to take part in this race with such brilliant women,” Dame Emily said.
“I will always be committed to this party and do everything I can to make it successful.”
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The senior Labour MP is the second candidate to drop out of the race after housing minister Alison McGovern pulled out on Wednesday.
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Ms Barker, the MP for Liverpool Wavertree, told Sky News she was “genuinely undecided” on her future in the contest and had a lot to consider.
Ms Barker, a former trade union official, has challenged the government on Gaza and welfare cuts and is part of the newly formed soft-left “Mainstream group”.
Her allies are keen for her to stay in the race, with one telling Sky News she “outshone the others by miles” during an online hustings event for MPs, and would be a “real alternative for the membership”.
Her supporters are expected to throw their weight behind Ms Powell if she does drop out, with one saying of the Manchester Central MP: “She is closer to Andy Burnham, and she was just sacked, so those who dislike Morgan McSweeney [the prime minister’s chief of staff] I guess will get behind her.”
However, while describing her as “slightly more left” than Ms Phillipson, they said she is “hardly a socialist”.
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Some MPs want to avoid a race between Ms Powell and Ms Phillipson, believing there is not much difference in what they offer, but others had more praise for the former, calling her performance at the hustings impressive.
One MP said: “Her pitch is that she’s been the shop steward of the parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) in government, but now she’s not in government she can dedicate herself to the role of deputy leader full time without a department to run. She wants to focus on defining our voter coalition and making sure we’re speaking to them.”
They added that Ms Phillipson might be too busy to fulfil the deputy leadership role, especially with SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) reform coming down the track “which could be a horror show”.
The deputy leadership race was triggered by the resignation of former deputy prime minister and housing secretary Ms Rayner after she admitted underpaying stamp duty on a flat.
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The candidates need 80 backers by 5pm Thursday. As of Wednesday evening’s tally, 235 MPs had made their nominations out of Labour’s 398 MPs.
If more than one candidate secures 80 nominations by Thursday evening, they will then need to gain backing from either three of Labour’s affiliate organisations, including two trade unions, or 5% of constituency parties.
That process will continue until 27 September, meaning a contested election threatens to overshadow the party’s annual conference that begins in Liverpool the next day.
The successful candidates will then appear on the ballot for a vote of all party members and affiliated party supporters, which will open on 8 October and close on 23 October at 12pm.
The winner will be announced on Saturday 25 October.
