Labour coup enters its ‘last throw of the dice’ as Tom Watson turns on Corbyn

Tom Watson this evening told the weekly meeting of the parliamentary Labour party that he is taking a ‘last throw of the dice’ before there is a move against Jeremy Corbyn. The party’s deputy leader held a 20-minute meeting with Corbyn this morning in which he warned him that he had to have the authority of the parliamentary Labour party, and that it wasn’t good enough just to have the support of the members. In response, Corbyn told Watson that he wanted to continue as Labour leader, but Watson’s spokesman said it was clear that there wasn’t a solution that involved Corbyn staying on as leader.

Neil Kinnock also gave a rousing, booming speech to the meeting which received plenty of cheers from MPs.

Tomorrow Watson is to hold a meeting with union leaders who ‘reached out’ to him today suggesting that there might be a way forward. But Watson’s spokesman said ‘Tom said to his colleagues that it is a last throw of the dice’ and that ‘Tom is acutely aware that the window is closing… he’s asked his colleagues just to give him some time’.