Labour Party Motion to Oust Deputy Leader Watson Is Withdrawn

(Bloomberg) — A motion to oust the deputy leader of the U.K.’s main opposition Labour Party, Tom Watson, that opened up divisions on the first day of the party’s conference, was withdrawn.

Labour plans to review the position of deputy leader, a spokesman said on Saturday. The ruling National Executive Committee had been due to vote on the issue at 10 a.m. local time, the BBC reported earlier on its website.

The NEC made a surprise move to cut the deputy leader’s position on Friday, sparking fury from Labour members of Parliament. The motion was rejected because it was ruled out of order.

The move was “a drive-by shooting,” Watson told BBC Radio earlier. “This conference is supposed to be a platform for what could be a general election in six weeks. We can’t have this sectarianism.”

Watson, who was elected on a separate mandate from leader Jeremy Corbyn, has publicly disagreed with the leadership on Brexit policy and has been pushing for a second referendum on the issue before a general election is held. He’s also been critical of the party’s slow response to allegations of anti-semitism.

The deputy leader said the move to abolish his post was driven by Jon Lansman, who founded and runs Momentum, a grassroots group set up to support Corbyn’s leadership, and Len McCluskey, leader of the Unite labor union, the party’s biggest financial backer.

The attempts to remove Watson were criticized by prominent Labour MPs including former leader Ed Miliband and Yvette Cooper.

Labour is holding its annual conference in Brighton, where it had planned to set out its agenda for the expected general election and highlight dividing lines from Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party.

To contact the reporters on this story: Thomas Penny in London at [email protected];James Amott in London at [email protected]

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrew Davis at [email protected], James Amott

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