Andy Burnham has now received the backing of 349 Labour MPs, making it mathematically impossible for any other candidate to challenge for the party leadership.
Andy Burnham will be the next prime minister after receiving an extra 27 nominations from Labour MPs on Monday, taking his total to 349.
The additional nominations, on top of the 322 he received last week, mean it is now impossible for any other candidate to gain the 81 endorsements needed to challenge for the Labour leadership.
While almost 80% of the Parliamentary Labour Party formally nominated Mr Burnham last week, extra endorsements on Monday (July 13) took him over the line.
As the only candidate to replace Sir Keir Starmer, Mr Burnham is expected to formally take over the Labour leadership at a special party conference on Friday.
He will then become prime minister three days later, on July 20.
Starmer has begun what is expected to be his final week as Prime Minister. No other challenger can get the required 81 MPs needed to stand against Mr Burnham, as he has the support of 322 out of Labour’s 403 MPs, and more are likely to nominate him on Monday when they return to Westminster.
Starmer will travel to Paris on Monday where he will join allies of Ukraine for a meeting of the “coalition of the willing”. He is also expected to join Bastille Day events on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, Rachel Reeves is carrying out her final duties as Chancellor and is due to give her final Mansion House speech to the City on Tuesday, where she will lay out plans to support small businesses.
On Sunday (July 12), Ms Reeves warned Mr Burnham that he must remain “laser focused” on what he wants to achieve in power.
Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, she said: “It is important that when Andy walks through that door, that he has a worked-through plan, because governing is hard in Britain, and lots of lots of challenges and shocks will come his way.
“What is really important is that him and his team are really clear about what they want to achieve. As those shocks come along, he needs to stay laser focused on those things that have always motivated him, have always driven him, and are the reason why he wants to lead our great country.”
Ms Reeves has conceded she will not stay on as Mr Burnham’s chancellor, and said it was “perfectly reasonable” for him to be ambitious when asked about claims he had been plotting a bid to enter Downing Street for over a year.
Mr Burnham is reportedly considering the possibility of an expanded budget in the autumn, according to the Financial Times.
The newspaper said that once installed as Labour leader, he is mulling over including a departmental spending review with the autumn fiscal statement, to set out his overall strategy until the next election.
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