Both have been campaigning across the country, taking part in at least 20 in-person and online events with members.
Phillipson has more MPs, and more of the unions on her side. Powell has more constituency party backing, and more from the other affiliated organisations like the Society of Labour Lawyers.
The decision for the party is in part whether it wants a politician who will represent members’ voices from outside the top echelons of government, or perhaps more discreetly, from the inside.
Whoever wins, relationships and personalities will shape what happens. Beyond the official duties, the role of deputy leader has been done in very different ways – by very different characters – in recent history.
A steady, loyal hand to help out a busy leader, shaking hands and scoffing sandwiches at party events the prime minister simply doesn’t have the time to attend, and doing vital campaign grunt work, as Dame Margaret suggests.
Or a pressure valve for a leader that sometimes winds up the rank and file. Think of John Prescott’s booming tones that connected with some voters and party members who didn’t much like Tony Blair’s silken schmooze.
Or a deputy who grapples to represent the parliamentary party in bitter opposition to the wilder elements of the leader’s tribe. Think of the battles between Tom Watson and Jeremy Corbyn during the party’s most recent civil war.
This time round, without radical differences between the two candidates, the contest is a chance for members to give a verdict on the leadership, and vent frustration.
The truth is that many members, just like Labour MPs, are disgruntled and disappointed by some of the decisions Starmer and his team have made. Some are dismayed by the party’s dismal position in the polls, not even 18 months since an enormous election victory.
That’s why, as things stand, most Labour sources and the limited polling available put Powell as the favourite to win the job. Even a member of the cabinet said to me earlier this week, “we all know it’s going to be Lucy”.
We all know by now that politics has an endless capacity to surprise, and the votes haven’t all been cast. Phillipson will join us in the studio tomorrow where she’ll argue her case, after Powell appeared last week.
But if party members do express their frustration by electing Powell, the optics for Starmer would be awkward. One source suggested: “For Lucy to get sacked then five weeks later, show to be the party’s favourite slam-dunk candidate, feeds into the narrative of Keir’s non-Midas touch – oops.”
It may not be “ghastly”, but it does seem a decision that Labour members are ready to take.
