Secret summit to wipe out Watson
Corbyn cabal plans political execution of deputy leader . . . at ‘Downton’ mansion lorded over by TUC boss
JEREMY CORBYN held a secret summit at a Downton Abbey-style mansion to plot a savage new purge of all his top Labour enemies after this week’s leadership contest, it was revealed last night.
Corbyn and his inner circle met at Esher Place, a Grade II-listed country house in Surrey owned by the Unite union, where they reportedly plotted the downfall of his deputy Tom Watson and Labour General Secretary Iain McNicol for opposing the Labour leader.
The secret meeting is revealed six days before Corbyn is expected to see off a bid to oust him as Labour leader by Owen Smith.
Confident of victory, Corbyn and his hard-Left coterie gathered at Esher Place three weeks ago to plan how to tighten their stranglehold on the party after his expected triumph is confirmed on Saturday, the day before the Labour Conference opens in Liverpool.
Esher Place, built in the French Renaissance style, is an unlikely location for a Left-wing plot: previous owners of the 800-year-old estate include Henry VIII, Cardinal Wolsey and Elizabeth I. Edward VII was once a guest there. Unite now uses it as a training centre.
The two-day event was hosted by Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey. Others understood to have been present include:
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell;
Labour frontbencher and exCorbyn lover Diane Abbott;
McCluskey’s right-hand man and chief of staff Andrew Murray, a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and long-time defender of miners leader Arthur Scargill; Corbyn spin doctor Seumas Milne; Jon Lansman, head of the hard-Left Momentum entryist group behind moves to sack moderate MPs;
Karie Murphy, Corbyn’s office manager, who is close to McCluskey and was accused of breaking in to the office of a woman Labour MP who resigned from Corbyn’s front bench;
Paul Mason, the ex-BBC journalist and ally of McDonnell who claims ‘spurious allegations of antiSemitism and sexism’ in Labour are part of a Right-wing plot to topple the Corbyn leadership.
The summit was revealed as rebel Labour MP John Woodcock, said to be on a Corbyn ‘hit list’, accused his leader’s team of ‘fanning the flames of hate’ in the party.
The Mail on Sunday understands much of the discussion at the secret meeting focused on Watson and McNicol. ‘They wanted to force a challenge to Tom as Deputy Leader but realised they can’t because he was elected, so instead they talked about firing him as chairman which is easier,’ said a source.
‘They hate Tom because he revealed how Corbyn is propped up by Trotskyist entryists. They hate Iain because he won’t let Corbyn turn Labour into a loonyLeft Jezza fan club and hound out decent officials who have given their life to our party.’
The meeting discussed giving Watson’s party chairman role to outspoken Labour MP Angela Rayner, who denounced Tory plans to bring back grammar schools as ‘segregation, segregation, segregation’.
Ms Rayner, 36, who spoke in the Commons last year of how she was told she would ‘amount to nothing after falling pregnant at 16’, is a fervent supporter of Corbyn.
Reports of a Corbyn bid to give Rayner Watson’s job as chairman were fuelled last night after a slick Labour film promoting her was posted on YouTube – prompting a sarcastic tweet by Watson about ‘this inspiring rising star’.
Those at the meeting also discussed sacking McNicol, who has fought a running battle with Corbyn over his attempt to seize control over the party machine.
Corbyn was furious when McNicol backed a successful move to stop thousands of Left-wingers rushing to join Labour earlier this year to vote to keep him as leader.
Labour last night declined to comment. A spokesman for Mr Corbyn also refused to comment, apart from saying: ‘Jeremy regularly holds informal meetings with his teams and supporters.’
Coterie plans to tighten hard-Left stranglehold