Who made the decision to hire you for that role?

@ColleenV I was hired by Bill, but (always because he don't want responsabilites) in practice the decision was approved by the previous international division VP (as far as I know, this person knew nothing about the situation and simply signed what Bill proposed). This previous VP no longer works for the company

If the person who hired you is refusing to stand by their decision, the future looks bleak. Does Bill have some personal issue with John?

Is this a real life scenario of an episode of your favourite soap opera? :D It sounds like you are working with a bunch of children to be quite honest. I'd recommend getting out as soon as you can. Let's be honest, that seems like what your colleagues want to make happen anyway. Nothing worse than working somewhere where you are not wanted or appreciated.

Whatever you do, keep the evidence of decisions made, changed and overturned, by who and when. Sure as eggs are eggs, they will try to blame you ehen there is an error.

@ColleenV no personal issues, I think Bill is simply waiting for his pension, trying to do as few things as possible and taking as few decisions as possible

@musefan unfortunately is what I'm starting to suspect myself

@JoeStrazzere my boss, Bill, simply does not want to be involved and Ann is supporting john and the team only. I feel cut out

It just seems odd that Bill would hire someone instead of promoting John if he were looking for the easiest way to sit and wait for retirement. Usually people who cause this sort of drama then refuse to do anything to try to fix it either intended for it to happen, or are covering up something they hope won’t get discovered until they are gone.

@ColleenV I was (and still am) not able to understand the steps during my hiring process and Ann promotion that led to this situation

Also, to be clear: This is the only job you've had as a project manager? All prior work experience was in marketing? How was that addressed in the hiring process?

@DanielR.Collins I worked in marketing, HR and IT. I had a brief project manager experience before this one. They were looking for a junior project manager for a simple project (but I don't know if the project was this one or another). My experience in HR and IT was considered a plus

DO you have the power to fire your antagonist, or promote him somewhere?

@MichaelMcFarlane In theory I can fire John (but 100% Ann will overturn my decision). I can promote him but not move in another team/project

If you look on the bright side: you're getting paid to do nothing. John wants to do your job. Everyone else wants John to do your job. You could just let him do it, collect your monthly salary, and look around the company to see if there's something else there that you'd rather do instead. Or do whatever you want - it doesn't sound like anyone will mind.

If this is an international consultancy company, figure out a way to get John out of the loop. For example offer him the "promotion carrot" of spending 6 months on-site with one of your key clients. Alternatively, give yourself the job of spending 6 months on-site with a client, and leave the rest of the kindergarten to do whatever they like (or whatever John likes) while you sort out your own career path.

Ann used to report to Bill, but now Bill reports to Ann. If Bill is angry about that, it might explain not only why he's only marking time until he retires but also why he hired you instead of promoting John, who might have been Ann's hand-picked successor.

There are two sides to every story. This sounds like one side.

@AndreasBlass: Any chance you could write that as part of an answer? I feel it's the most insightful thing on the situation, sucks to have it lost in the chatroom here.

@AndreasBlass: Actually I was inspired by your comment to write an answer incorporating that, hope you don't mind.