Praise for Brown and Blair puts Watson out of tune with his leader

Tom Watson brought Labour delegates to their feet with a passionate defence of the achievements of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and a rallying call to prepare for a snap election.

The deputy leader of the party told delegates Labour “can’t afford” to carry on with its internal fighting, pointedly laying responsibility at Jeremy Corbyn’s door.

In a rebuke to the left of the party that energised a divided conference hall in Liverpool, he insisted capitalism “is not the enemy” just a day after shadow chancellor John Mcdonnell claimed Labour supporters “no longer have to whisper” the word socialism. Mr Watson addressed Labour’s apparent lack of unity, urging party members to “put our differences aside, link arms with our brothers and sisters in Labour, turn and face the Tories and fight”.

He said: “It’s time for Labour 0 Tom Watson defended Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to get back to business, time to get the band back together.”

He also insisted Labour owed the British people “an alternative to a government that doesn’t care and a Prime Minister they didn’t vote for”.

Choosing not to congratulate Mr Corbyn on his re-election as leader, he instead lavished praise on London Mayor Sadiq Khan, describing him as a “champion”, which prompted a heckler to yell “just like Jeremy Corbyn”.

Inhisonlymentionoflabour leader, who sat on stage to his left, Mr Watson quipped: “Jeremy, I don’t think she got the unity memo.” Mr Watson got a standing ovation by listing at length the achievements of thelabourgovernmentsofmr Blair and Mr Brown, two figures out of favour under Mr Corbyn’s leadership.

He told delegates: “I don’t knowwhywehavebeenfocusing on what was wrong with the Blair and Brown governments.” He said that Labour in recent years had sounded “like we were anti-business, anti-prosperity, anti-success”.

Turning to the Tories, Mr Watson claimed Theresa May “hasn’t got what it takes” to lead the country, and poked fun at the appointment of Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary. He said: “Hillary Clinton’s famous test was ‘who do you want answering that red emergency phone at 3am?’ I dread to think what Boris Johnson is up to at 3am.

“And the Tories tell us we’re not serious about national security?”