It’s ‘Fat Man’ Watson v Marxist McDonnell

Labour heavyweight sizes up rival for leadership because he thinks Corbyn is ‘finished’

JEREMY CORBYN will be forced to step down soon as Labour leader, triggering a bitter succession battle, allies of his deputy Tom Watson have claimed.

Mr Watson is understood to be secretly preparing for a titanic leadership showdown with Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, believing that Mr Corbyn will be forced out because of the growing furore over anti-Semitism.

A battle between Mr Watson and Mr McDonnell would pit two of the party’s most brutal political operators against each other: hardman Watson, 52, who has an unrivalled grip on Labour’s levers of power, going head-to-head with Marxist McDonnell, 67, who has been a close ally and enforcer for Corbyn for more than three decades.

It comes as Mr Watson prepares to launch a new ‘social democratic’ group of Labour MPs in the coming days, which Corbyn loyalists describe as an attempt to create a ‘party within a party’.

Mr Corbyn was shake n last week by the decision of the UK’s human rights watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission( EHRC), to examine Labour’s record on anti-Semitism. Labour MPs predict that it will lead to ‘heads rolling’, amid disputed claims of papers being shredded and ‘ boxes of documents’ being carried out of party headquarters.

Even close colleagues of Mr Corbyn admit the party leader has been so weakened by t he controversy that his days could be numbered.

In the bars of Westminster, Mr Watson has been given the Mafiastyle nickname of the ‘Fat Man’ – a legacy of his days as a 22- stone party enforcer. A crash diet helped him lose seven stone, but he is no less feared by Mr Corbyn for the independent powerbase he has built in the party. Mr Watson is credited with masterminding the ‘curry house’ plot which led to Tony Blair being forced to quit No 10 and give way to Gordon Brown. Mr Watson would automatically take over as interim leader if Mr Corbyn, 69, stood down. After the defection of several Labour MPs to form a new independent group, Mr Watson warned his leader to change direction or face a worsening split in the party. A source close to Mr Watson said: ‘Jeremy’s essentially finished. It is only a matter of time before either he realises it or it is made clear that for the sake of the party, he must step aside.’

Mr Watson would face a formidable opponent in long-term Corbyn ally Mr McDonnell, who has previously made comments in support of the IRA and was accused of calling for former Cabinet Minister Esther McVey to be lynched.

Senior party colleagues say he is ‘fast losing patience with Jeremy’. One said: ‘ McDonnell is serious about getting a genuine hard-Left Labour Party into power. He knows we’ve never been nearer and it’s incredibly annoying to him that we keep mucking it up with unnecessary rows about anti- Semitism which Corbyn doesn’t shut down.’

Mr McDonnell tried twice before for the leadership, in 2007 and 2010. Another candidate could be schools spokesman Angela Rayner.

One Shadow Cabinet member said: ‘Tom is no doubt manoeuvring against Jeremy but some of us wonder if he is doing it on behalf of another contender that he’ll line up behind. That’s more his style.’

Both Mr Watson and Mr McDonnell last night dismissed the leadership speculation. Mr McDonnell denied he was frustrated with Mr Corbyn’s leadership.