Labour has been accused of trying to “airbrush” Jeremy Corbyn out of the party as he does not appear in the magazine for its September conference.
Michael Crick, the Political Correspondent for Channel 4 News, tweeted a picture of the brochure, pointing out that it has “not a single picture of Jeremy Corbyn but three of Tom Watson!”
The picture of the brochure was retweeted more than 500 times.
Crick suggested Labour might be trying to “airbrush Corbyn out of history” in case he fails to win the party’s leadership contest against Owen Smith.
Crick added that the magazine has a picture of former Labour leader Clement Attlee, on what appeared to be an advert, but “no sign of Corbyn”.
Some Corbyn supporters called the leader’s absence a “bloody disgrace”. One suggested Crick had foiled a “plot” and another commented that the magazine had been “purged”.
One replied with a picture of Joseph Stalin, who famously altered images to remove supporters who fell out of his favour:
Others had their own theories about Watson’s prominence in the magazine.
One Corbyn supporter said: “Maybe it’s because once the purge is over Tom Watson will be the only member left,” while another commenter asked if it meant Watson was “the stalking horse” waiting to be crowned leader of the Labour party.
Others welcomed Waston’s high billing:
According to Labour, there is in fact a good reason why Corbyn - and his leadership rival Smith - don’t appear in the magazine. It explained that neither Corbyn or Smith appear because of the uncertainty over the result, which will be announced at the conference in Liverpool.
A spokesperson said: “The Labour Party 2016 Annual conference magazine have been printed ahead of the announcement of the Leadership Election.
“No candidate in the leadership election features in the magazine.”
Another Labour party official told The Huffington Post UK there are “very strict” rules on impartiality during a leadership contest and that Watson appeared because he is the most senior elected official whose position it not being contested. They said they would not comment on who within the party was responsible for the brochure.
Crick has past experience with party conference brochures and controversy.
One person reminded him of the time he was hit on the head with a Ukip conference brochure by Godfrey Bloom, after asking why it had “no black faces” in it.