Thread by @maxshanly

Tom Watson is much harder to get rid of than you realise: a thread.

There's no point signing petitions calling on the NEC to pass a motion of no confidence against Watson, even if they did it would have no effect as such a mechanism doesn't exist in the Labour Party Rule Book.

The only way to get rid of an incumbent deputy leader is for a challenger to be nominated by 20% of the combined PLP/ELP, as per Chapter Four, Clause II, subsection B, point iii of the Labour Party Rule Book.

In practice this makes a challenge impossible. There aren't 50 MPs/MEPs sitting in either Westminster or Brussels that are on the left-wing of the Labour Party.

We're thus left with only one practical option. This would be to campaign to change the rules of nomination, it's simply not democratic that in a party of 500,000 members less than 0.10% of them have the right to nominate a candidate for leader or deputy leader.

The current system is oligarchical and undemocratic. We should change the rule book so that CLPs and affiliated unions have nomination rights, not MPs or MEPs.

This would also likely prevent a rightward drift once Corbyn eventually stands down, as MPs and MEPs almost certainly won't nominate a candidate from the Corbynite wing of the party if the power of nomination remains vested in their hands.

The deadline for rule changes to #Lab20 has passed, but there is nothing stopping CLPs from moving an organisational motion at #Lab19 instructing the NEC to bring a rule change to that effect before the end of Conference.

If people want me to I am happy to write a model motion to this effect over the course of the next few days and circulate it widely. At the end of the day this isn't about Watson, it's about democracy and safeguarding the future of the Labour Party and those we seek to represent.

Here's the model motion you all requested. Nomination rights for the many, not the few. Download here: bit.ly/2XYkmzT

Deadline for CLPs and affiliated organisations submitting motions to Conference is the 12th of September.

Noticed a couple of small mistakes, have amended it to make it clearer. You can download the (now amended) motion from the link provided in the tweet above this one.