Express & Star

'This wasn't in the job description': Tom Watson focused on stopping 'historically damaging' Labour Party split

Tom Watson has vowed to do all he can to prevent 'a damaging split' in the Labour camp as he admitted the turmoil embroiling the party had caught him 'on the hop'.

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'Nobody put this in the job description.'

Those were the words of embattled Labour deputy leader Tom Watson as he continued to fight to hold his party together as it stood on the brink of an historic split.

The Labour deputy leader was back in Sandwell last night to chair a swiftly arranged meeting of regional party members in West Bromwich.

Explaining that he was glad to be back on home soil after a whirlwind week that has seen more than 60 resignations from Jeremy Corbyn's frontbench, Mr Watson said it was vital that Labour's membership 'received some reassurances' over the future of the party.

In an interview with the Express & Star Mr Watson said he was doing all he could to 'bring all sides together' and negotiate a settlement that would best suit the future of the party.

He said: "My sole focus is to keep the Labour Party together in what could be an historically damaging split.

"At the present time we need to restore the goodwill required for a unified Labour Party that truly represents the people."

"Negotiations are ongoing, but for the moment everyone has to be patient. I know that as a party we can work through this."

It comes as further divisions emerged between the Parliamentary Labour Party, the majority of whom want to see Mr Corbyn resign, and large sections of the party's grassroots membership.

Mr Watson said his 'sole focus' was to stop the party from splitting, and described such an outcome as 'historically damaging'.

Earlier this week he said the Labour leader had ignored his calls to resign in the interests of the party, leaving Labour 'in an impasse' which risked turning into an 'existential crisis'.

He said he had been speaking with Mr Corbyn to try and negotiate his departure, but that he was refusing to budge.

Ex-Labour leaders Ed Miliband and Gordon Brown are among the growing band of party luminaries who have called for Mr Corbyn to quit.

Rob Marris has called for the Labour leader to quit

Divisions began to emerge in the Labour Party early last Sunday morning with Mr Corbyn's shock sacking of high profile shadow cabinet member Hilary Benn.

It led to a slew of frontbench resignations, including Angela Eagle, who is expected to mount a leadership bid in the coming days should Mr Corbyn not step down.

Mr Watson had been tipped as a possible candidate to stand for the position of Labour leader before ruling himself out of the running earlier this week.

"I never had any intention of standing," he said. "I try to be the mediator. That's the role of the deputy and it is up to me to try and bring everyone together at this difficult time."

It is thought that several high profile MPs would have backed Mr Watson if he had decided to stand.

Mr Watson admitted he was 'caught on the hop' by the conflicts that cracked open the Labour Party within hours of Remain's defeat in the EU referendum.

He had achieved a lifelong dream to attend the Glastonbury Festival when news filtered through that Mr Corbyn had sacked Hilary Benn from his shadow cabinet.

It meant Mr Watson's Glasto trip, during which he saw New Order, Adele, Fat Boy Slim and The Tom Robinson Band and attended a silent disco, lasted just 14 hours.

"I was left in the position of trying to sort out the party from a train station with a patchy signal," he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Corbyn has repeatedly vowed to fight to keep the position he was elected to after a landslide victory in September's leadership election.

But despite growing concern about Mr Corbyn's leadership, a poll of party members showed he would comfortably defeat any of the likely challengers against him in a leadership contest.

The YouGov survey of full party members revealed a slim majority were in favour of him staying on for the time being. However, the poll marks a substantial drop in Mr Corbyn's approval ratings since May.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said his party will 'get through the uncertainty'

At that time 72 per cent thought he was doing well as leader and 27 per cent badly. Now 51 per cent think he is doing well and 48 per cent badly, marking a major fall.

It has been reported that behind the scenes some of those close to Mr Corbyn have began urging him to step down in order to prevent a split between the party and its hard left.

Black Country MPs have been among those to call for him to go, with Wolverhampton's Rob Marris stepping down as shadow finance minister after telling Mr Corbyn that he had lost the support of the party and that his position had become untenable.

In a speech yesterday shadow chancellor John McDonnell vowed the party 'would get through this period of uncertainty', but said it was inevitable that Mr Corbyn would face a leadership challenge 'within days'.

The Labour leader's chief ally said MPs, who in a no confidence motion voted 172 to 40 against Mr Corbyn, should 'calm down'.

Meanwhile Labour sources said that up to 60,000 new members had joined the party in the last week in a bid to head off a plot to remove Mr Corbyn.

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