TOM WATSON’S launch of his “Future Britain” group, registered on the day of the Independent Group split and now supported by 130 Labour MPs and peers, is a reminder to all that nearly four years on from Jeremy Corbyn’s historic victory for leadership of the party the right wing are still determined to take back control.

Watson’s group laughably pegs itself as a new force for social democracy — his leaked list of priorities notably does not include austerity, but does include “supporting incumbent MPs” and reassessing Britain’s role in the world through foreign policy. This shallow list is a thin veil for Watson’s continued bids for power — power he is determined to take back even if the party is left in a heap of smouldering ashes.

Remember the first coup attempt by MPs, headed by Watson, and supported by 173 Labour MPs?

Remember the suspensions and expulsions of tens of thousands of party members during the second leadership campaign, designed to gerrymander the vote for the second leadership election?

Remember the constant abuse, backbiting, leaking, and attacks on the membership? If we had any doubt that the Labour right would be willing to sacrifice the health and electoral success of the party in order to get rid of the left these events should convince us otherwise.

And let’s go back further in time, to the transition between Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband. Remember the Blairite continuity candidate then, David Miliband, who stood on a platform of breaking the union link with Labour?

Remember the moribund branches, the support for austerity, the policy-lite posturing of the liberal urban right who were in all key positions of the organisation?

Remember how bad New Labour was — ID cards, the Terrorism Act, illegal wars, privatisation and PFI, and constant pandering to the Ukip-right?

As we move towards a potential general election, the disproportionate power of the parliamentary Labour Party, as well as the unaccountability of MPs to the members, is the biggest structural challenge facing the Labour left. The talentless careerists who flocked into Labour’s safe seats during the Blair era won’t give up on their hold of the party without a fight. If Labour was to win a general election with these MPs in place, its first term would be a disaster.

Which is why the Labour leadership must clearly understand the historical role it plays in this movement. Winning the next election is of secondary importance to ensuring that Blairites and assorted right-wing hangers-on are expunged from Labour for good.

Corbyn must be assuring himself of a left-wing successor as his first and foremost priority. If the right takes back control of the party, it will not allow this to happen again.