Labour’s deputy leader says left-wing supporters of Jeremy Corbyn are involved in a plot which could destroy the party as an electoral force.
Tom Watson was reacting to claims that the grassroots Momentum group – which helped make Mr Corbyn leader – is hoping to get financial support from Britain’s largest trade union, Unite.
Momentum’s Jon Lansman was reportedly taped saying that if Len McCluskey was re-elected as Unite general secretary, the union would affiliate to his group rather than just to Labour.
Mr Watson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme “enough is enough, this has got to stop… I’m afraid there are some people who do not have our electoral interests at heart”.
He said “we have never seen the biggest union organising a political faction in the Labour Party with the tacit approval of the leadership”.
He said he was not sure Mr Corbyn was aware of the plan suggested by the recordings – which were revealed by The Observer newspaper.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said Mr Watson’s comments were “disappointing” and suggested he was trying to influence the outcome of the contest for Unite leader – in which incumbent Len McCluskey – a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn – is being challenged by Gerard Coyne.
The ballot papers for the contest will be sent out later this week, with the result to be announced next month.
Mr McDonnell dismissed talk of any kind of plot to take control of the party, insisting “this is not civil war”.
“It is all about Tom and the internal battle that he is trying to wage within Unite,” he said.
In the recordings Mr Lansman says: “Assuming that Len McCluskey wins the general secretaryship, which I think he will, Unite will affiliate to Momentum and will fully participate in Momentum, as will the CWU.”
He went on to tell activists it was “absolutely crucial” that they secured a change to the party’s rules to ensure that whenever Mr Corbyn stands down, they are able to get a candidate on to the ballot paper to succeed him.
‘Democratic deficit’
Currently, a candidate must obtain the support of 15% of Labour MPs and MEPs in order to stand – a threshold a new left-wing contender is unlikely to be able to meet.
Christine Shawcroft, a member of Momentum who sits on the party’s National Executive Council, said Labour’s MPs could not have a “veto” on the wishes of the membership when the time came to electing Mr Corbyn’s successor.
“We have a mass membership now and it wants its voice to be heard,” she told Today. “There is a democratic deficit in the Labour Party where the structures we have do not reflect the support for Jeremy Corbyn that has been shown by the mass of the members”.
Jeremy Corbyn and Len McCluskey
Analysis by Norman Smith, assistant political editor
Friends of Mr Watson say they believe there is an orchestrated attempt by Momentum and Unite to take control of the machinery of the Labour Party.
They claim there are plans to introduce mandatory reselection of MPs, remove critical councillors, take over regional Labpur parties, change the leadership rules, and ignore restrictions on the activities of non Labour Party members.
One said the situation was more serious than the 1980s because now Labour was facing a threat from within its own organisation rather than an external group like Militant.
It was claimed that despite denials by Unite an assurance had been given by Mr McLuskey’s allies that he was willing to fund Momentum.
Mr Watson, she suggested, was “rather right wing” and wanted to return to a “command and control” system for running the party based on a “Blairite model”. In contrast, she suggested Mr Corbyn was a “moderate” socialist whose policies were “common sense”.
She rejected suggestions that Momentum was a hard-left entryist organisation trying to infiltrate Labour, describing the terms as “silly labels”, and pointing out that she and Mr Lansman had been party members for 40 years.
“Jon said nothing that was at all controversial, but I think this is a concerted attempt to interfere in the internal election in Unite for general secretary, which is really shocking.”
She added: “The offer is always open for any organisation, any trade union, to affiliate (to Momentum). They are welcome to do so. It is not a question of disaffiliating from the Labour Party and affiliating to Momentum instead.”
‘Entirely inaccurate’
The contest between Mr McCluskey and Mr Coyne, Unite’s West Midlands organiser who has said the union needs to meddle less in internal Labour politics, is being seen as a proxy battle for control of the Labour movement.
Most Unite branches have backed Mr McCluskey in his bid to be re-elected. The incumbent has been nominated by 1,185 branches – representing 559,000 members, more than five times the total of his rival.
Unite, which is Labour largest financial backer, said Mr Watson’s comments were “entirely inaccurate” and accused him of trying to “interfere” in the election.
“As Unite has made it clear it is exclusively for our executive council to determine which organisations we affiliate to,” said acting general secretary Gail Cartmail. “There are no plans for Unite to affiliate to Momentum.
“For the record, Len McCluskey has never met Jon Lansman to discuss this or any other matter.”
She added: “Mr Watson is a Unite member with a right to a vote and a view. But he should remember that, first, he is deputy leader of the Labour party with the obligations that this senior post imposes, and second that Unite is not a subsidiary of any political organisation.”
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