Labour conference 2019 kicks off with a dramatic start

Labour conference has kicked off with a dramatic start. Last night, the national executive committee (NEC) held its first meeting of the year in Brighton and Jon Lansman – a representative of local parties on the ruling body – put forward a surprise motion. After successfully moving to scrap Labour Students on Tuesday, it appears the Momentum chair had got into his stride: he proposed to abolish the post of deputy leader. There was no pretence that this was motivated by anything other than opposition to the way Tom Watson has been using his position. Lansman spoke at the meeting about Watson “undermining” Keir Starmer on the day of the Shadow Brexit Secretary’s TUC congress speech earlier this month. It is not the pro-Remain stance that angered so many, but the fact that Watson advocated holding a referendum before an early election.

On Friday evening, the motion was ruled out of order as no advance notice had been given, but 17 NEC members (against 10) did want it to be heard. If the proposal is voted on again today, it will pass. Then delegates would vote on the rule change this afternoon and approve it. But that route is not certain: LabourList was told last night that Jeremy Corbyn – who wasn’t in the room when the vote took place – wasn’t keen on the idea then, and he will face huge pressure now to quash the whole thing. “If people want to remove me, let the members remove me,” Watson told Radio 4 this morning. The problem for Corbynites is that there is no obvious path for members to do that, other than via motions, because triggering a challenge is in the power of MPs. But even if the move is stymied today, the idea is certain to come up again. And if it isn’t cancelled, a leadership challenge looks likely.

Update: Lansman withdrew the motion, LabourList understands. Corbyn will propose a review of the role of deputy leader instead.

The other controversy is around Brexit, of course. The chances of a successful compositing meeting – where member and affiliate delegates would agree on a compromise motion – are very low, and a conference floor battle is risky. Could the leadership install a safety net? Anti-Brexit activists are worried about the rumoured plan for Jeremy Corbyn to present a Brexit statement to the NEC, which would follow the preferred union line rather than the pro-Remain one. Helpfully to the leadership, this would muddy the waters and ensure that if the ruling body approved one Brexit policy and conference floor another they would have some cover to carry on with ‘TULO 2’ and refrain from backing Remain before the election. This is a tried and tested way of handling a difficult conference debate. Optics matter, but remember that only motions passed by a two-thirds majority must go into the party programme, and even then those policies don’t have to go in the manifesto.

I hope I’ve convinced you that following LabourList for conference updates is going to be absolutely crucial – and we were the first out with the news of Lansman’s motion yesterday. Luke Akehurst’s guide to the next few days is a must-read. If you’re in Brighton, do come to our rally tonight at 5.30pm in The Grand (no conference pass needed). We’ll be joined by top figures including John McDonnell and Len McCluskey – so rousing speeches and cracking news lines are a safe bet.

One of our conference event speakers Chris Peace has written a piece today on her experiences as a candidate in North East Derbyshire ahead of our panel event ‘Winning Labour’s back heartlands’. We have a fantastic line-up of events – most of them accessible without a conference pass. Check out our full programme here, RSVP here and – most importantly of all – buy your Monday night LabourList karaoke ticket here. See you soon!