TOM WATSON is under serious pressure to obey Labour’s complaints procedure and stop wrecking it with an illegal “parallel” process.

The kamikaze deputy leader was sternly rebuked by shadow chancellor John McDonnell yesterday for trying to sabotage the party’s formal complaints process.

Last week, Mr Watson demanded that all complaints about anti-semitism be copied to his office.

This extraordinary request forced Labour’s general secretary Jennie Formby to send a letter warning Mr Watson that his scheme could breach data protection laws.

A Labour source told the Morning Star that the letter had been carefully crafted by the party’s lawyers.

They are seriously concerned that Mr Watson’s antics could cause the Information Commissioner to fine Labour — and that the fine could bankrupt the party’s war chest.

The source also pointed out that Mr Watson was an unlikely figure to stamp out anti-semitism from the Labour Party.

The MP for West Bromwich East famously accepted donations totally £500,000 from Max Mosley, son of the British Union of Fascists (BUF) leader Oswald Mosley.

Mosley Jnr was an election agent for Oswald Mosley’s post-war Union Movement in the 1960s, when he published a campaign leaflet saying that “coloured immigrants” were threatening children’s health.

Mr Watson has also personally pandered to racists during a 2004 by-election in Birmingham, where as campaign manager he allowed the local Labour candidate to rail against asylum-seekers.

Mr McDonnell said: “What Jennie is concerned about is anyone setting up a parallel system of dealing with cases.

“That wouldn’t be right. This has got to be dealt with by the party itself.”

Supporters of suspended Labour MP Chris Williamson have also rallied around the beleaguered socialist over the weekend, launching a raft of online petitions and Facebook pages calling for his reinstatement.