Labour women have criticised warring factions for "playing politics" with gender equality after plans for the creation of a woman deputy leader role were dropped.
The proposals to ensure women had more power were submitted by the Wirral West Constituency Labour Party, but the motion — which had the backing of Labour's National Executive Committee — was unexpectedly withdrawn on Tuesday morning.
"There have been some disturbing reports that this rule change has widespread support because those who want to divide our party and undermine Jeremy Corbyn want to use this as a way to do it," Angela Marincowitz-Skillen, of Wirral West, told delegates.
The withdrawal angered some Labour women, including former deputy leader Harriet Harman and former shadow women and equalities minister Yvette Cooper, who criticised the outcome on Twitter.
Jess Phillips, leader of the women’s parliamentary Labour party, told BuzzFeed News that while some of those pushing for the rule change were doing so because they genuinely wanted better representation, she too was concerned that it was being exploited in a factional struggle.
“This has to be about giving women power, and not about using it as a tool to give power to men,” she said. “If you want to give power to women, you have to give away some of your own power. If it’s about giving power to women, why aren’t they talking about having a second female leader?
“This doesn’t feel like it was genuinely about giving more power to women, which is something that is sorely needed in the Labour party."
Jeremy Corbyn has previously pledged his support to Labour Women's Network's campaign for 50:50 representation at all levels of the party.
A spokesperson for Labour Women's Network told BuzzFeed News: “LWN has long been campaigning for a rule change to ensure women’s representation in the leadership team. We are disappointed the second deputy proposal has been remitted and urge Labour to stop playing politics with women’s representation."
Sources told BuzzFeed News that the new position for a woman deputy leader was seen by some camps as an opportunity to get another moderate ally in the leader of the opposition's office, alongside Tom Watson.
Two sources told BuzzFeed News that at a meeting of Labour First, the pressure group's secretary Luke Akehurst said that he had been speaking to Watson, claiming he was struggling to decide whether it would be beneficial to support a second deputy.
Watson backed the motion, and told the BBC he was "disappointed" it didn't go through.
"The hard-left group, the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy, opposed a second deputy leader, which I think is a great shame, because they've got nothing to fear with more women at the top table" @tom_watson tells @Jo_Coburn #politicslive #Lab2018 https://t.co/SK4WTwvQDc https://t.co/syjrrPjE8k
Akehurst, who tweeted that it was "disgusting" that the motion had been withdrawn, denied accusations that his support was based on party politics or that he had been speaking to Watson about whether a second deputy would strengthen Watson's position.
He told BuzzFeed News: "I'm interested in what will benefit the party, not individuals."
Akehurst accused Wirral West, the constituency of Corbyn ally Margaret Greenwood, of being "prepared to throw women's representation under a bus for factional advantage".
Some critics believe Corbynites see potential contenders for the woman deputy role, such as shadow education secretary Angela Rayner, as a potential threat to their leader.
The debate over women's role in the senior ranks of the party is set to continue this evening. Hornsey and Wood Green’s constituency party will submit a similar motion, which states that either the leader or deputy leader must be a woman.
Card vote 16 will ensure fair representation of women within our party’s leadership - make sure that, if the party leader is not a woman, at least the deputy must be #Lab18
If the rule change passes, it would mean that from 2020 onwards — or earlier if a vacancy arises — the leader and deputy would be elected simultaneously. A male deputy would only be eligible for reelection if the new leader was a woman.
Had Wirral West’s proposal for a second deputy leader been adopted by conference, Hornsey and Wood Green’s proposal would have automatically been ruled out.