Unite boss Len McCluskey attacks Labour's Tom Watson's 'world of skullduggery'

Unite leader Len McCluskey has accused Labour's Tom Watson of living in a "world of skullduggery, smears and secret plots".

Responding to Mr Watson's interview with Sky News in which the MP warned the party's future was at risk of a hard Left takeover, the union boss hit back accusing Labour's deputy leader of "manufacturing division".

Mr Watson said there was a real threat to Labour's existence from leader Jeremy Corbyn's supporters' group Momentum seeking to get union backing.

It followed the emergence of a leaked recording of the group's leader Jon Lansman discussing how the country's biggest union could affiliate with his group.

Mr McCluskey said it was alleged he was "secretly in cahoots" with Mr Lansman, whose grassroots activists helped Mr Corbyn claim victory in last year's leadership election.

"That was at breakfast. By lunchtime I was no longer the scheming mastermind, but Unite chief of staff Andrew Murray was doing the conspiring instead," he wrote, in a blog for The Huffington Post.

"By evening, he may well have been blaming the Unite caretaker for digging a secret tunnel linking Unite HQ to Jon Lansman's home."

Mr McCluskey insisted he had "never had a private meeting with Lansman about anything in my life, let alone on this alleged scheme".

He said such a decision could only be taken by Unite's executive - and asserted there was no such proposal.

Mr McCluskey, who is seeking re-election as Unite's general secretary, accused Mr Watson of "masterminding a nasty tabloid-style campaign" against him to influence the result.

"His transparent plan is to install a puppet who can take the union back to the bad old days when unions like the one he worked for were in the pockets of employers and failed to put their members' interests first."

He said there was "another world" in the Labour movement: "A world of skullduggery, smears and secret plots.

"That is where you will find Tom Watson.

"When Labour has needed loyalty, he has been sharpening his knife looking for a back to stab. When unity is required, he manufactures division."

On Monday, Mr Corbyn renewed his plea for unity after Labour's civil war erupted in furious clashes during a meeting with his MPs and peers.

The under-fire leader was told to "look in the mirror" and accused of driving the party "off a cliff".

Sky's chief political correspondent Jon Craig said the shouting and heckling at the leader during the Parliamentary Labour Party showdown was so loud it could be heard clearly by journalists.

The bust-up followed a shadow cabinet away-day which ended with accusations of hostile briefing against Mr Watson.