Tom Watson faces being ousted in Momentum coup today

TOM Watson could be ousted this morning in a coup led by allies of Jeremy Corbyn.

Jon Lansman, founder of the Momentum faction, tried last night to force a vote on whether to axe Mr Watson’s role as deputy leader.

The bid failed on a technicality, but has been retabled for a meeting of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee this morning.

Allies of Mr Watson last night pointed the finger at Mr Corbyn for the putsch – and predicted it would succeed, plunging the party into a civil war.

one source said: ‘It looks like Tom is going to be ousted tomorrow.

‘There is no way this happened without Corbyn’s backing – his people control everything Lansman does.

‘And he has the votes on the NEC to get his way.’

The move follows years of bad blood between Mr Corbyn and his deputy, who is seen as the unofficial leader of Labour’s moderate MPs.

Mr Watson has embarrassed the Labour leader by calling on him publicly to get a grip on the party’s anti-Semitism crisis.

Allies of Mr Corbyn have been trying to get rid of Mr Watson for months but have been unable to gather the signatures of the 50 MPs needed to trigger a contest under the party’s rules.

Mr Watson sent his apologies to the meeting of the NEC citing childcare issues. Mr Lansman then tabled a motion calling for the abolition of his post.

The motion was ruled out of order by the chairman of the meeting, at which point Mr Lansman forced a vote to overrule the chair.

The motion was passed by 17 to ten, but failed to secure the necessary two thirds majority.

However, Left-wingers have tabled the motion again for when the NEC convenes in Brighton this morning for the start of the conference.

Mr Corbyn was also absent from last night’s meeting but a source close to Mr Watson said this appeared to have been arranged to distance him from the plot.

Mr Lansman is understood to have argued that Mr Watson is out of step with Labour’s leadership, citing his call last week for an election to be delayed until after second referendum.

A Momentum source told the Huffington Post: ‘No one person is more important than beating Boris Johnson, ending austerity and tackling the climate change emergency.

‘We just can’t afford to go into an election with a deputy leader set on wrecking Labour’s chances.

‘Labour members overwhelmingly want a deputy leadership election, but our outdated rulebook won’t let it happen.’

A moderate Labour source said: ‘They didn’t have the guts to try to take Tom on in an election so they have tried to do him in in the most cowardly way imaginable – abolishing his job at a meeting he was not even at.’

Earlier this week Mr Lansman led a successful attempt to abolish the Labour Students organisation for being too moderate.