24 hours into his leadership and Jeremy Corbyn is already defying the conventions of being an opposition leader. He cancelled a long-scheduled appearance on the Andrew Marr Show — but found time to attend an event in his constituency — leaving it to the party’s new deputy leader Tom Watson explain to the nation what Labour has just done. Watson’s appearance suggested he is not going to be an easily-controlled disciple — he has his own agenda to reform the Labour party. One of Watson’s main areas of concern is to reform the party’s internal structures:
‘I’ve stood on a platform … I’ve got my own mandate to reform the Labour Party. I think the Labour Party needs organisational change if we’re to win in 2020. But I’ve also been very honest about where I stand in that process and the members have given me my own mandate, and I guess what that says is let’s give our democracy back to Labour Party members and let’s have a democratic decision on that through our own internal mechanisms and we’ll all have to adhere to that.
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