Hard-Left plot to stop Watson derailing the Corbyn project

Mr Watson, a prominent labour moderate, would automatically become caretaker boss if Mr corbyn stood down.

Supporters of the opposition leader have put forward proposals designed to stop any attempts to overturn the corbyn project.

Under a draft clause circulated to senior labour figures, an acting leader would be forced to direct all of their decisions to the party’s ruling national executive committee for approval.

the nec is dominated by staunch hard-left allies of Mr corbyn – and labour moderates fear the rule would make the body a kind of Politburo more powerful than the person supposedly leading the party.

Details of the proposed changes were leaked to the Huffington Post website as the nec met yesterday to consider a raft of labour rule changes, from how the party leader is elected to whether MPs should face automatic re-selection votes.

they were also due to decide whether to change their rules on sexual harassment following criticism by a young labour activist who claims she was raped at a party conference in 2011.

Bex Bailey said labour’s leadership was not taking the issue seriously and was sitting on a report which showed harassment was ‘rife’.

Mr Watson was elected by labour members on the same day as Mr corbyn, and he cannot be removed by the leader.

the relationship between the pair has deteriorated in recent months amid labour’s anti-Semitism crisis.

Mr Watson confirmed that he would not be giving the deputy leader’s traditional keynote speech at next week’s annual party conference.

Moderate MPs condemned the proposed rule changes, which will be discussed at a further nec meeting before the party conference.

One said: ‘this looks like they’re trying to turn the nec into the Politburo with greater power than the acting leader.’

Another said: ‘it’s an unenforceable act of paranoid Bolshevism.’ Meanwhile, left-

‘Act of paranoid Bolshevism’

wing activists have hit out at a proposal to change the leadership election rules, warning that it could keep supporters of Mr corbyn off the ballot.

the move said to have been agreed by union leaders and presented yesterday ‘ completely misjudges the mood of the membership’, the pro-corbyn grassroots organisation Momentum claimed.

if adopted it would mean that a candidate would need the support of 10 per cent of labour MPs – currently 26 out of 257 – to stand.

the nec meeting came after Miss Bailey, a former committee member, accused labour of ‘dragging its feet’ over sexual harassment in its ranks.

She waived her right to anonymity to describe how she was sexually assaulted at a party event as a 19-year-old.

labour commissioned a report by an independent Qc in response to her allegations, but Miss Bailey says the party has yet to act on the findings.

A party source denied it was ‘dragging its feet’.