Labour conference: Female joint deputy leader plan ditched
Plans for a woman to be elected joint deputy leader of the Labour Party have been withdrawn over concerns it would undermine Jeremy Corbyn.
Deputy leader Tom Watson said he was “very disappointed ” by the move, which he blamed on “hard left” activists.
The plan was backed by the National Executive Committee and unions.
But it was withdrawn by the Constituency Labour Party that had tabled it, Wirral West, at the party’s conference in Liverpool.
Documents seen by the BBC show that there was opposition from the Labour leadership on the idea
Read on… https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45634376
Labour unexpectedly drops plan for female co-deputy leader
Wirral West constituency party withdraws motion over reports role could be used to ‘sow disunity’
Labour has unexpectedly shelved plans to create a position for a second, female, deputy leader, a policy backed by the current deputy leader, Tom Watson.
The party’s ruling national executive committee had voted in favour of the change at its pre-conference meeting. The move had historically been backed by the party’s left as a way of limiting Watson’s influence after the Labour veteran was partially blamed for the campaign against Jeremy Corbyn in 2016.
However, Watson unexpectedly backed the move at the NEC meeting, prompting fears from some in the party that a female candidate who supported a second Brexit referendum would place fresh pressure on the leader over the issue.
Who’s really playing factional games?
THE CHORUS of dismay directed at Wirral West delegate Angela Marincowitz-Skillen’s decision to withdraw the proposal for an elected joint deputy leader suggests she was right.
Her fear that Labour’s rump of anti-Corbyn prejudice might use an election to offer up a “People’s Vote” candidate to embarrass the leadership cannot be easily dismissed.
Current deputy leader Tom Watson’s announcement that he was “very disappointed” by Marincowitz-Skillen’s withdrawal of her proposal after speaking in favour of the principle and that he blames “hard left” activists speaks volumes.
Read on… https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/who%E2%80%99s-really-playing-factional-games
Labour’s plan for female deputy leader collapses, triggering accusations of dirty tricks by Corbyn’s team
‘The hard left were scared a moderate would win, scared of party democracy’
Labour’s radical plan for a woman to be elected to a second deputy leader’s post has collapsed, triggering accusations of dirty tricks by Jeremy Corbyn’s team.
The motion was suddenly withdrawn by the local branch that had proposed it, amid angry claims that the leader’s office feared the rise of a potential rival.
Angela Rayner, the independent-minded shadow education secretary, was seen as the frontrunner for the new role – which would have put her in pole position to take the Labour crown.
Labour left drop plan for female deputy after Tom Watson backs idea
Tom Watson has seen off an attempt to sideline him with the election of a second female deputy leader — by warmly welcoming the prospect.
Jeremy Corbyn’s allies withdrew the attempt, fulminating at the “sectarian game” being played out over the proposed new post at Labour’s conference in Liverpool today.
The motion, tabled by the left-controlled Wirral West, was intended to force Mr Watson into opposing a new deputy and further damaging his standing with party members.
Posted by rikshelpers@rikv.net
Rotherham Politics 
This is hilarious! Well played Tom Watson for very cleverly exposing an attempt by “the Party within a Party” otherwise known as Momentum (inspired choice of name incidentally also beginning with the initial ‘M’ as in Militant of the 80s, another ‘entryist’ hard left elite) to force the Labour Party to designate a new elected but female second Deputy Leader post.
As both a female and an ex-Labour Party member, it never ceases to amaze me that the Labour Party allows itself to get embroiled in yet another ‘sectarian’ game as if this is the most important and burning issue within the Labour Party for members and the wider electorate. In my opinion, it appears that Party members have again become preoccupied in what they may well describe as ‘equality’ issues but where gender seems to matter more than ability and competency for a post giving rise to a situation where some are ‘more equal’ than others.
Quite frankly, I find it incredible that the newly reincarnated Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn still feels the need to look inwardly and ‘internalise’ matters (used to be known as ‘navel gazing’ in my day) rather than concentrating on being the “broad church” that the Party always prided itself that it was. I am dismayed that the old, almost ingrained type of ‘tokenism’ still seems to prevail in 2018 – I am and was never anyone’s ‘token’ woman and joined the Labour Party many, many years ago as a matter of conscience, fully expecting to be involved in everything that the Party had to offer and to play my part as a committed and active member in all aspects of a campaigning and fully inclusive Party – the fact that I was female never was an issue for me and nor did I allow myself to be put forward for any position simply on the basis that I was a woman and someone felt the need to ‘include’ me. I still hold the view that elected posts should be defined on the basis of ability, competency, a healthy dose of commonsense and humour for the best person to fulfil that post and that being female must never hold someone back from putting themselves forward for consideration.
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