Tom Watson, the newly elected Labour deputy leader, has asserted himself by saying he has his own mandate and added that the party had a debate ahead on its approach to replacement of the Trident nuclear missile system and UK membership of Nato.

Watson, speaking on BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show after the new Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, declined to appear, said he had the right to express his own views. “I have been very honest about my views and I have got my own mandate”, he said, adding that his mandate was to give policy decisions back to party members.



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He said he was sure Labour would want to keep Britain in the EU, saying he believed in a social Europe and pointing to it as the world’s largest trading bloc. “I will be a yes to Europe, definitely, and I hope we can convince those sceptics in the party that this is where we need to be in the referendum,” he said.

Corbyn has already said he does not think there is an appetite in the party to leave Nato, but Watson, a former defence minister and previous advocate of a Trident replacement, may find he cannot avoid clashing with his new leader over unilateral nuclear disarmament.

John McDonnell, Corbyn’s campaign manager, in a speech on Thursday made clear opposition to Trident was central to Corbyn’s offer to make Labour a peace party.

Watson also said Labour would become a more intellectually curious party than before, adding that so many social democratic parties in Europe had become shell parties, and he was determined that did not happen to Labour.

His political origins lie in the right wing of the engineering union, but he has adapted on a long political journey in which he has sometimes clashed with Corbyn.

Watson, as the Guardian reported on Saturday, said he was sure that Corbyn wanted to work with David Cameron and the Speaker, John Bercow, to make prime minister’s questions a forum for serious discussion.

He said Corbyn wanted to end “the bullyboy scoring points at prime minister’s questions”. He said “it was a very bad showcase for democracy”.

It is understood discussions have already been held about the idea of a closed question – a way of giving the prime minister prior notice of a question that is being asked by an opposition politician so the government frontbench has time to prepare a considered answer.

Watson appeared on the Marr Show after Corbyn pulled out to spend more time preparing his shadow cabinet.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jeremy Corbyn pulled out of the Marr Show to work on his shadow cabinet. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA

Corbyn has already appointed Rosie Winterton as his shadow chief whip, and is under pressure to appoint Angela Eagle as shadow chancellor. The relationship between party leader and chancellor is the single most important in any political party, and some are arguing that he appoint his lifelong political ally McDonnell due to the implicit trust that exists between them.

Admitting he and Corbyn had different opinions on Trident, Watson said: “No one wants to live in a nuclear world, but it is how you disarm. I think the deterrent has kept the peace for half a century and hope we can have that debate in the party.”

He also hopes to persuade Corbyn of the merits of Nato, saying he believed the military alliance had kept the peace in western Europe for more than 50 years and had been invented by a great Labour politician, Ernest Bevin. He acknowledged that some thought its expansion in eastern Europe had been a mistake and Corbyn was right to be cautious on this issue.

Watson said he did not think there was a military strategy in Syria to defeat Islamic State that avoided the use of troops on the ground, adding there was no will in parliament for such a step. “We need to know what the mission is, the exit strategy is, and what the cost is before we can make a decision,” he added.

A string of frontbenchers have said they will serve in Corbyn’s cabinet, including Liam Byrne, Chris Bryant, Lucy Powell, Hilary Benn and Maria Eagle. But another group, including Rachel Reeves, Yvette Cooper and Tristram Hunt, have said they will not serve but will give Corbyn time and space to form his strategy. Dan Jarvis, seen as a contender in a couple of years’ time if the Corbyn leadership fails, has been reported as saying he will not serve.

Corbyn faces tension between assuring supporters that the policy direction will change and the need to mollify some frontbenchers who regard international issues, such as the UK-US relationship, as a principle they cannot compromise on.

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Watson tried to reassure MPs that there would not be a push for automatic reselection, saying: “In my conversations with Jeremy, he says he wants to build a broad-based party and have a frontbench that has all the talents and all the views … Watch this space, respect the mandate that he has been given from his members and try and unify.”

He said there was no chance of a putsch, but added: “It is fine to leave the frontbench. I have done it myself a few times, but you have to have a spirit of unity in your heart when you do it.”

He added Corbyn wanted a more intellectually curious party. “We both want to democratise the party, give policymaking powers back to our members. There are too many parties across western Europe that are almost shell parties. They are run by advisers and people in the frontbench and what we want is a vibrant democracy and we want to relay our roots in every community in these islands.”

He added: “Something is going on out there, a quarter of a million people have joined the party in the past few months.”

Watson said he hoped people who spent £3 to vote for Corbyn upgraded to full membership. But he thought it might be financially prohibitive to let them join the party without paying a higher subscription. As many as 15,000 people have joined the party since Corbyn’s election, and he urged them to be involved in doorstep campaigning.