ANALYSIS

POWER STRUGGLE TO KEEP OUT MODERATES

WITH the Tories on the ropes, the country in crisis and an election in the offing, why would the Labour leadership throw away their media spotlight for a bout of fratricide?

Believe me, the leader’s office was up to its oxters in the botched attempt on Tom Watson.

The left decided Watson, a pro-Remainer, an outspoken critic of anti-Semitism in the ranks, with something of a suspiciously BY TORCUIL CRICHTON reasoned tone about him, had to be eliminated.

Watson survived, strengthened, and the move exposes how a Corbyn election defeat is now priced in by those around him.

Corbyn is the most unpopular Labour leader in 45 years – his minus-60 approval ratings are lower than Michael Foot’s. If he is humiliated in an election by Boris Johnson, there will be a vacancy. Labour moderates, like Watson, must be denied a platform.

In the dark labyrinth of Labour, the McDonnells and Abbotts realise this is their best, last chance at power. Time will not stand still for them.

But for power brokers behind the scenes, led by union svengali Len McCluskey, the project to control the party, not win elections, is a priority.

That’s why people like Corbyn aide Andrew Fisher, credited with writing Labour’s radical 2017 manifesto, are leaving, blasting the team for their “lack of professionalism, competence and human decency”.

All that before they start debating Brexit under gathering dark clouds in Brighton.