The High Court has ruled that the Labour Party must allow five new members the vote in the leadership contest.
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The decision by the party’s national executive committee (NEC) that only members who joined before January 12th were eligible had been challenged by five people who were excluded as a result.
It came as Mr Watson suggested “Trots” are attempting to use Labour as a “vehicle for revolutionary socialism”, are not “remotely interested in wining elections” and do not have the “best interests of the Labour Party at heart”.
It comes as Owen Smith, Mr Corbyn’s challenger in the leadership contest, appealed to his rival’s camp to extend the contest.
Jeremy Corbyn’s allies had urged the party not to pursue an appeal, claiming members’ money was being squandered on stopping them from voting.
Ms Harrison stated: “This case was about the right to vote under the Labour Party constitution, under which all members are equal and valued”.
“Party membership has more than doubled under Corbyn, and despite Cadbury’s fears, Labour’s electoral record under his leadership has been impressive, winning numerous by-elections with an increased share of the vote and recapturing the London mayoralty, among other victories”.
AS many as 150,000 Labour members not allowed to vote in the party’s leadership contest could now do so after a landmark court ruling.
BBC political correspondent Chris Mason said there was no way of verifying the motivations of those who have signed up in the past six months but both leadership teams say the court ruling is likely to be beneficial to Mr Corbyn.
A Labour spokesperson said: “It is right that the Labour Party seeks to defend vigorously decisions of the National Executive Committee in this matter, and we will now study this judgement carefully”.
“The Labour Party should not now be pitching member against member and spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on an appeal to keep people from voting”.
He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “This wasn’t a spurious action, it’s not been politically motivated”.
The Labour peer told the programme, Brexit – The Battle for Britain: “It was very hard to know what Jeremy Corbyn’s motives were”.
Lord Mandelson was also critical of Mr Cameron’s handling of the referendum, accusing him of “holding back” the Remain campaign because of his unwillingness to go on the attack against fellow Tories. “I don’t know where that leaves us after we’ve finished this horrendous fight”.
Labour MP Michael Dugher, a key supporter in Mr Burnham’s own bid for leader last summer, tweeted: “What did I do in the war, son?”
He added: “This case was always based primarily on the Labour party’s constitution as set out in the rule book”.
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“We should be nothing other than pleased that there are so many people taking part in what is an incredible democratic exercise”.
