Tom Watson has been crowned as deputy leader of the Labour party.
Watson, who prior to being elected as MP for West Bromwich East in 2001 worked as a party staffer and trade union official, had been widely expected to prevail in the deputy leadership race from the outset.
Watson’s victory completes a remarkable turnaround for the backbench MP. Having resigned in 2013 over his role in the Falkirk affair – the third of his career – many believed that his career on the frontbench was over, and that he would instead plough a furrow as a campaigning MP from the backbenches.
But Watson’s triumph also means that it is now a near-certainty that all of Labour’s top three posts will be held by men, after Sadiq Khan’s triumph in the mayoral race yesterday, and with Jeremy Corbyn’s victory a near certainty.
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