Corbyn-supporting MPs even offer to lend their nominations to make sure the deputy leader can get onto the ballot
On the BBC’s Marr show yesterday – his second appearance in as many weeks – Labour deputy leader Tom Watson talked about setting up a group of ‘social democrats’ within the party and justified it by referring to his mandate from the two hundred thousand or so members who voted for him as deputy leader in 2015.
While many Labour members responded by challenging Watson to test his mandate by triggering another election for his deputy’s position, a number of Labour MPs have reacted by calling on Watson to challenge Jeremy Corbyn for the leadership itself.
One Labour MP put it succinctly:
Another sub-group? Tom should go for the leadership, then he can appoint an entire shadow cabinet if he wins.
Other MPs have made similar comments, with Corbyn supporters even offering to ‘lend’ Watson their nomination to make sure he receives enough to mount the challenge. As incumbent leader, Corbyn would automatically be on the ballot.
SKWAWKBOX comment:
Watson now needs to put up or shut up. If he really thinks he has a mandate for his current actions, he has no excuse.
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[invests in large pack of popcorn]
Watson is clearly pitching an anti Corbyn line and he should test his popularity. I know of one vote he won’t be getting next time – mine.
He’ll not get mine either. I could not trust him from here to the window – and I am right next to it……
Nore mine !
The weasel certainly wouldn’t get mine again either.
What’s is name? Tom Watson, is he the Deputy Leader of Labour Party?
What does he do?
Has he been in this position long?
Never heard of him.
Think Labour needs a star (or two) in this role – perhaps Chris Williamson and a good Leftie woman from a choice of a few as joint deputies?
This Tom bloke, he ain’t no star.
A nomination and game plan foretold by me in late 2015.
An even bigger hammering than Owen Smith? I think so.
I voted in the first deputy leadership contest, never again
Corbyn would still be leader during any election but surely Watson would have to stand down as deputy as if he won to avoid the possibility of him being Leader and Deputy at the same time.
” the two hundred thousand or so members who voted for him as deputy leader in 2015.”
That was then – before you started playing the disloyalty card so openly.
Obviously, the right will want to shrink the Party to the amenable rump that it became under Blair – and that’s what he’s playing for.
He probably got many of the votes of people who voted for Corbyn.
And let us not forget just how awful the other candidates were.
It is interesting that Labour MPs think re-selection is a bad idea when applied to them but are all for it when it applies to Corbyn as leader!
Because no Leftie could even get on the Deputy Leadership ballot in 2015, the Left Slate recommended candidate at the time was ….. ANGELA EAGLE ! Angela Eagle FFS ! She was the “most Left” candidate ! Even then Watson was seen as a well dodgy Right Wing trades union machine politician, serial plotter, and crony of Gordon Brown. I voted for Eagle ! Holding my nose.
There must be a real danger now that phase two of Chicken Coup 2 is for a largish number of the PLP Right to claim that they “can’t be led by an anti-Semite enabler like Jeremy – so will adopt whipping under the Deputy Leader, Tom Watson, instead” . I think the PLP Right may be going for broke now to split and destroy our Party as an electoral force immediately prior to what surely be a looming snap General Election – working in concert with their cronies in the Independent Group proto “Macronist” Centre Party of Guardianista wet dreams
jpenney 25/02/2019 at 3:52 pm
REALLY?
I was under the impression that you rejoined the party after the election following a 25 year absence.
“I voted for Eagle ! Holding my nose”
Mmmm … even holding my nose, I couldn’t have done that.
Judgment?
Why would anyone ever again trust Tom Watson with their vote?
There will be many, like me, who were taken in by his false manifesto for the Deputy Leadership election and now deeply regret voting for him.
Me too!
He’s now the No.1 candidate for removal/ejection from post, if not party.
His arrogance on Marr was breathtaking. He was actually issuing demands/thinly-veiled threats to his superior!
I preferred him when he was…less slim.
Yes, there must be at least 27,715 supporters and members who voted for Corbyn as leader and Watson as deputy. I get that figure by deducting from Watson’s vote the total vote for all losing leadership candidates. This assumes that all non-Corbyn voters backed Watson as depity leader. In reality I think the Corbyn/Watson vote was much higher.
Irony. I have a signed copy of ‘Dial M for Murdoch’ (2012)on my bookshelves. It is a good takedown of the Murdoch press, subtitled ‘News Corporation and the Corruption of Britain’.
It is astounding that Watson is using the media and its ability to now generate smears.
‘Politics is a dirty business’.
Only if you conspire with such.
Yes please but only if we can use it to force resignation as Deputy prior to ballot
There is no chance Tom will challenge Jeremy Corbyn- he knows he’d lose so he’ll continue to snipe from the sidelines. As Deputy Leader he doesn’t seem to understand that he has responsibility to fight anti semitism too and its just not good enough to sit back , do nothing and then blame others for the perceived lack of progress
The only way to adequately deal with this situation is for someone to challenge Tom for the Deputy Leader position.Tom has made himself so unpopular the outcome would be a foregone conclusion.
Actually, what does he do all day long? Apart from sniping?
Good point! Currently it seems he collects complaints and anti Semitic messages – and hands them over to Corbyn while immediately complaining he isn’t ‘doing anythjng’ about them!
You don’t need enemies when you have Tom as your Deputy. The only good thing is that since he lost weight and changed his glasses he looks less like Ronnie Kray -although perhaps he retains the mind-set?
It sounds odd when the Deputy Leader of an organisation complains the Leader isn’t doing something he ought to be doing but provides no information that he might help or even do it himself. He should be assigned the task.
My thoughts exactly. He might find, however, that having to work through party procedures is not to his liking, because it would expose very clearly that the scale of the anti-Semitism and bullying claims are just as reported, i.e. nowhere near as bad as they are made out to be.
Has anyone ever seen Tom Watson and Kim Jong Un in the same room?
How about Jennie Formby gives Tom Watson sole responsibility for stamping out AS?
Can his position be challenged by another MP? If that is the case we should lobby our favourites to ho for ot?. I would be happy with Emily Thornberry or Dawn Butler or Angela Raynor
Cindy 25/02/2019 at 2:31 pm
Yes
Labour Party Rule Book 2018
Clause II.
Procedural rules for elections for
national officers of the Party
1. General
A. The following procedures provide a rules
framework which, unless varied by the
consent of the NEC, shall be followed when
conducting elections for Party officers. The
NEC will also issue procedural guidelines on
nominations, timetable, codes of conduct for
candidates and other matters relating to the
conduct of these elections.
2. Election of leader and deputy leader
A. The leader and deputy leader shall be elected
separately in accordance with rule C below,
unless rule E below applies.
B. Nomination
i. In the case of a vacancy for leader or
deputy leader, each nomination must be
supported by 10 per cent of the combined
Commons members of the PLP and
members of the EPLP. Nominations not
attaining this threshold shall be null and
void.
ii. Where there is no vacancy, nominations
may be sought by potential challengers
each year prior to the annual session of
Party conference. In this case any
nomination must be supported by 20 per
cent of the combined Commons members
of the PLP and members of the EPLP.
Nominations not attaining this threshold
shall be null and void. The sitting Leader or
Deputy Leader shall not be required to
seek nominations in the event of a
challenge under this rule.
Step forward Chris Williamson! Pse pse challenge this twat Chris .
bugger his brain is imploding but tw better cross over
Tom Watson is nothing but a self serving blairite, he didn’t vote against the Tories cuts, Welfare Bill. He’s voted for every war . he’s tried every thing in his power to derail Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, Tom Watson and the rest of the Blairites would rather destroy the Labour Party than upset their gravy train and perks of protecting the Status quo… the buffer zone for the Feral Elite.
Watson is no Blairite,though they have combined together for their mutual benefit.He belongs to the “Old Labour” corrupt fixers brigade going back through John Spellar to Frank Chappell for those with a long memory.There ost war roots would go back to Ernest Bevin and the “Pro Empire” wing of the Labour party.
Only if he stands down first from the position of Deputy Leader……
Bring it on! Watson the Weasal needs to put up or shut up! We Corbyn supporters welcome any democratic challenge to the leadership. If he does it will be the last stand of the Blairites.
Tom Watson has written to Labour MPs and Peers …”From now on my team will be logging and monitoring all complaints”
Henry ZeffmanVerified account
@hzeffman
Political Correspondent @thetimes –
He’s collecting complaints like a small boy collects stamps but he doesn’t DO anything about them! When he’s got 50 or so he complains nobody is investigating them – least of all him! He could at least remove the obvious ones eg not from Labour Party members but even that is beyond him.
Not to nit pick, but wasn’t Tom a Brownie?
My deepest apologies, I was one of the 200,000/purely on the strength of his prominence in the phone hacking scandal. I would rather stick needles in my eyes than vote for him again, I believe many others are of the same opinion.
Precisely my past position and now present stance, lundiel agreed !
I would never vote for Watson ever. He has shown what a weasel he actually is , same as the backstabbing bunch that have just left. JC4PM
I am more and more convinced that the grassroots should outflank the right by campaigning for total transparency over allegations – their source, target and substance and procedural outcome, within certain constraints of privacy and legality.
Nothing hidden.
I couldn’t agree more. Sunlight is a natural disinfectant.
Having heard the interview with Mr Lansman on radio 4 this morning I cannot help but feel he is now firmly in the Watson camp.
Lansman has been playing a dubious game for some time. He has not been keen to call out the right-wing Israel lobby, and his defence of left wing victims of false allegations has been … errr … shall we say ‘somewhat absent’.
I cancelled my Momentum membership a long time ago as I think Jon Lansman is dangerous to the Labour Party, he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Me too H, and due to Lansmans latest statement in the rag Indy saying there is a much larger AS issue that Corbyn has failed to deal with , then I am also cancelling my membership of The World Transformed . To hell with all of his bloody organisations until he stands as a proper elected person then I’m not going to pay a penny more to them.lam sick of folks like him tarring the membership as having a big AS problem , he knows Fuck all about me .so fuck im
Remember when they said umunna would waltz it? 😀
And they’re serious about watson? Will they finally belt up when fatboy slime’s trounced?
Go the whole hog and insert a condition that the loser (No prizes!) resigns his seat.
He is winding us up. He wants to make it look like we are all arguing amongst ourselves and that we are disorganised. We should not rise to his bait. Better to pat him on the head and tell him to sit down and behave himself. He is acting like a spoilt boy
Very good. But the MSM will stoke division, track division, hunt down division, supply division I a contrived way if there was none.
You’er absolutely correct about the stoking of division. I get a bit worried about the fact that so many are willing to take the bait rather than let the chancers die an unlamented death.
Meanwhile the Tories are given free reign to ignore their own problems with racism
With many in the Conservative party outspoken in their criticism of Labour’s handling of antisemitism complaints within the party, it is baffling to see them relinquish any sense of responsibility to combat Islamophobia amongst their own ranks.
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/islamophobia-conservative-party-hope-not-hate-report-muslim-boris-johnson-a8784306.html
Exactly the same position for me Lundiel
No no no no no no ……a thousand times NO !!!!!!!
Watson ???? An utter traitor.
Been expecting this modus operandi for months. Since he “took responsibility’ for sorting the so called anti Semitic plot” he’s been floundering around doomsaying about the “issue that will define the Labour party for a generation” he’s produced nothing that could be verified as anti Semitic from a genuine Labour member! Time to put him up for reelection and let’s see what the real members have to say!
The BBC online is presenting Watson as aiming to build up a party of Labour MP’s unhappy with the current leadership and ‘left wing’ policy. It’s blatant rebellion.
Only Labour has a problem with racism because……………….that’s the way it’s reported in MSM.
What makes you think that we don’t have gov’t by Media? Journalists are more Public Relations than investigative journalism & the Media mediate via the Perception Industries.
Cat fight! Cat fight!
Lansman and Watson go into the ring to decide who shall be Witchfinder General, scraping the barrel to find the very last smidgeon of antisemitism and hold it aloft to an admiring media.
My money is on Watson, because if there is going to be hair pulling, and there will be, Lansman doesn’t stand a chance.
Tell us all about this anti-Semitism you have found Tom where is it ?
There’s more AS in the Tory party plus Islamophobia but you and the msm don’t talk about that . anti-Semitism is a right wing thing Tom not a left wing one and you know that very well.
I joined the Labour Party in 1944 long before Tom Watson was born and have held responsible positions including Leadership of a very large Metropolitan Council Labour Group. His first duty is to his elected Leader for Whips are the Officers to keep the Leader informed. If he cannot accept this simple fact he should resign his position not undermine the very person he was elected to support and if need be deputize for him. I fear that Tom Watson will not test his strength as he knows a defeat may wait for him within the rank-and-file.
For the record I never came across any antisemitism in all my years in the Labour Party but the exact opposite where all faiths and those of no faith were welcome.
As you will be well aware it’s in the rules that the Deputy Leader’s duty is to support the leader
Clause VII.
A – Party officers and statutory officers
ix. The Leader shall consult the Deputy
Leader on a regular basis and the Deputy
Leader shall provide the Leader with
advice and support in achieving the goals
of the Party and deputise as requested
Both of you are spot on about the key issues, and the disloyal venality of Watson.
Like you, Bill, I’ve actually been in there, and have seen the worst sort of chancer that the Party can produce at times. I’ve also been targeted by the right careerists. Watson seems to be among those disloyal chancers, I’m sad to say.
Again – like you, experience of antisemitism is zilch for what is proclaimed as such a major issue. Strange, isn’t it?
That’s a great left hook you have there. Regards
BREAKING NEWS
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/25/labour-to-back-moves-for-second-brexit-referendum
Labour has announced it will back moves this week for a second EU referendum, which Jeremy Corbyn will tell MPs could “prevent a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country”.
Corbyn will also table an amendment to the government’s Brexit motion setting out the five demands he spelled out to Theresa May as conditions of Labour’s backing for a Brexit deal, including a permanent customs union.
It would be a sensible move. Apart from the other shenanigans discussed here, May has been walking away with the Brexit agenda, even though her distinction is in the field of total incompetence and subservience to the extreme right. Labour needs to seize the initiative, and do the obvious right thing rather than touch the forelock and imitate May by bowing to the ERG.
I just received an email from my MP who sits on one of the biggest majorities in the country. He called out ‘young new members’ who through their eloquence were bullying older people. He actually complained of ageism (he’s about 80 himself). But of course the really nasty thing was that they were anti-Semitic. He didn’t say how he knew, presumably it’s written on their faces. Now they’re trying to ‘take over’ the Party ‘ward by ward’ and must be resisted. For him Watson is the shining light who will (somehow) Deal with the ‘entrism’ which he likens to that of Militant and the SWP. You suspect Watson’s ‘Party within a Party’ is long planned, a coup while the country is distracted by Brexit,
Seems to me Brexit is their weapon of choice along with AS. Brexit is their Trojan horse and they are now trotting out
I voted for him. Never ever ever ever again. Treacherous opportunist egotistical idiot
Wasn’t he a good golfer once. Sorry, gopher. Regards
Looks like Watson’s ‘operation anaconda’ is in its final squeeze .Could be fakery though,I heard it would be Lammy making the challenge
Surely , under the new party rules , there are enough members of the PLP to trigger a deputy leader challenge .
Not without a rival candidate …
I don’t think more diversionary fodder for the MSM is what’s needed at the moment, despite the irritation.