Inside the crisis at the heart of the Labour Party

On the eve of Labour’s annual conference, the party descended into bitter infighting as a move was made by influential figures to abolish the post of deputy leader.

The motion – proposed by the party’s governing body on Friday evening – called for the position, held by Tom Watson, to be scrapped. It failed to get the two-thirds vote required to pass, but was due to be discussed further in Brighton.

Corbyn, however, was forced to intervene the following morning after a row exploded in the Labour Party over the motion, which drew a furious reaction from MPs and grandees. Instead, the Labour leader put forward a compromise motion, promising to “review” the post of deputy leader – essentially kicking the issue into the long grass.

Tom Wa​tson

Labour’s deputy leader – elected by the membership on the same day as Jeremy Corbyn in 2015 – has been a source of constant frustration in the leader’s office. He has been a prominent supporter of a second Brexit referendum and called for a public vote before any general election – in direct contradiction of Labour’s policy.

Following the ​attempt to abolish his position, Watson warned there was a “battle for the future of the Labour Party” underway and urged delegates to “resist the destructive, corrosive impulse of factionalism”.

Jon Lansman

The veteran left-winger who helped run Tony Benn’s unsuccessful deputy leadership bid in the 1980s is a close ally of the Labour leadership and helped found the pro-Jeremy Corbyn organisation Momentum. He brought the motion on Friday to Labour’s NEC to remove the deputy leadership post and faced heavy criticism from MPs.

Jeremy Corbyn

The Labour leader was not present during the NEC vote and has since attempted to distance himself from the move to abolish the deputy leadership position.

Asked about the move on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Corbyn chose his words carefully. “I knew there were discussions going on about the role of deputy leader,” he said. “I did not know that that particular motion was going to be put at that time.”

He added: “There was a move that didn’t happen, that didn’t work and I intervened to make sure we have an open, democratic discussion about the structure of our party and that is where we’re at.”

Karie Murphy

The former Scottish Labour activist is the gatekeeper of Corbyn’s office at Westminster and his chief-of-staff. She was briefed to have worked with Lansman to bring the motion to a vote at the NEC on Friday.

Len McCluskey

Fingers were also pointed at the Unite union boss Len McCluskey – a close ally of Corbyn – who has a fractious relationship with Watson. But McCluskey dismissed reports he was involved in the audacious bid to abolish the deputy leader position, describing it as “fake news”.

“I had nothing to do with it,” he said. “I knew nothing about it. The first I heard about it was when it broke in the media.”