Labour has been plunged into a fresh civil war on the eve of its annual conference, as allies of Jeremy Corbyn launched a bid to abolish Tom Watson’s post of deputy leader.

Jon Lansman, founder of the pro-Corbyn campaign group Momentum, tabled a last-minute motion at the party’s ruling national executive committee (NEC) on Friday night calling for Watson’s job to be scrapped.

A Momentum source said: “No one person is more important than beating Boris Johnson, ending austerity and tackling the climate emergency. We just can’t afford to go into an election with a deputy leader set on wrecking Labour’s chances.

“Labour members overwhelmingly want a deputy leadership election, but our outdated rulebook won’t let it happen. You need 20% of Labour MPs to trigger an election, and they just won’t let the members have a fair and open election.”

The chair of the NEC ruled Lansman’s motion out of order, but he then sought to have that decision overturned. Lansman won the subsequent vote 17-10; but that fell just short of the two-thirds majority necessary to challenge the chair’s authority.

However, the Guardian understands NEC members agreed to return to the issue at Saturday’s meeting.

If the policy is agreed, it would be recommended to Labour members as a change to party rules, which would then have to be approved by conference. Neither Watson nor Corbyn were present at the meeting.

A senior Labour source said: “Tom had given his apologies to the NEC as he had to look after his children.

“Usually when you disagree within parties on issues like taking a remain stance on Brexit, you have a debate. Seems that in Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party they’d rather abolish you than debate with you.”

A spokesperson for Corbyn declined to comment.

Watson, the MP for West Bromwich East, was elected to the post of deputy leader in 2015. Never an enthusiastic Corbyn supporter, he has increasingly irked the leadership in recent months.

He formed an internal Labour caucus called the Future Britain Group, in the wake of the defections of a string of MPs, including Luciana Berger and Chuka Umunna, calling for the voices of social democrats to be heard more loudly in the party.

And most recently he has made a series of off-message interventions in the Brexit debate, including most recently giving a speech calling for Labour to support a referendum before a general election.

Some Labour MPs expressed alarm about the surprise move to oust the deputy leader. Jess Phillips warned of what she called “a desperate attempt to control and expel anyone who has an independent thought”.

Ilford North MP Wes Streeting tweeted:

Labour Conference this week needs to put the Party on a general election footing - talking to the country about our vision for Britain. For @jonlansman and @PeoplesMomentum to try and remove our Deputy Leader @tom_watson isn’t just outrageous, it’s self-destructive and must stop.

— Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) September 20, 2019

Corbyn allies believe Watson is using the issue of Brexit to drive a wedge between the Labour leader and the party’s overwhelmingly pro-remain activists.

In his speech earlier this month, Watson said his party must “unambiguously and unequivocally back remain” – something Corbyn has reiterated in recent days he believes is the wrong approach.

As well as irritating the leadership, Watson has had a long-running feud with Len McCluskey, the general secretary of Unite, Labour’s biggest donor.

The pair were once close friends, but have clashed over Corbyn’s leadership and Brexit.

In May, as Watson became increasingly vocal about the party’s Brexit policy, McCluskey said: “Tom Watson’s already out, surprise surprise, trying to take on the role of Prince Machiavelli, but I’ve got news for Tom. Machiavelli was effective. He’s a poor imitation of that. If he’s trying to turn Labour members against Corbyn and in his favour, then he’s going to lose disastrously.

“And there will be others in the coming days who try and do the same. Now is the time to hold your nerve, because a general election, which is the only thing that will resolve this situation, is closer now than anything.”

Lansman’s motion is not the first attempt to clip Watson’s wings. The NEC discussed a bid to create a second, female deputy leader role at last year’s conference, but it was withdrawn at the last minute after Watson himself welcomed the move.

Friday’s move to oust Watson, which several senior Labour sources suggested would not have been taken without Corbyn’s tacit backing, follows the abolition of Labour Students, the group some party left-wingers have long regarded as a hotbed of centrists.

Heather Stewart

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