McDonnell piles pressure on Watson to hand back £540,000 from Mosley
TOM Watson should consider handing back £540,000 in donations from Max Mosley if the former Formula 1 tycoon’s views on repatriating immigrants have not changed, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor said yesterday.
John McDonnell suggested the party’s deputy leader could review his links to Mr Mosley, who is embroiled in a storm over a racist election leaflet.
The Mail unearthed the document, which carried Mr Mosley’s name, in an archive in Manchester. Mr Mosley had denied knowing it existed in his orgy privacy trial involving the now defunct News of the World.
Published in 1961, the pamphlet linked non-white immigrants with diseases such as tuberculosis, VD and leprosy and called for them to go ‘home’. In a Guardian interview published on Saturday, Mr Mosley was quoted as saying it was ‘perfectly legitimate to offer immigrants financial inducements to go home’.
Asking Mr McDonnell about the interview on Sky News yesterday, presenter Niall Paterson said: ‘I’m wondering what you think of Max Mosley, and I’m not referring to the leaflet that was uncovered this week, instead the interview that he gave a few days ago when he confirmed that he was of the view that it was perfectly legitimate to pay immigrants to go home, to offer them financial incentives, you know, cash for repatriation. I presume that that’s not your view.’
Mr McDonnell responded: ‘No, certainly not, of course it’s not our view and it’s the sort of proposals which we’ve condemned in the past outright.’
When pressed on whether Mr Watson should return the money in light of Mr Mosley’s comments, he said: ‘Well the money was given to Tom, Tom took that decision on the basis, I believe, that Max Mosley’s views had changed.
‘If those are the same views now, well Tom will need to consider seriously exactly that relationship and the finances as well because if he is reiterating his views from the past, he clearly hasn’t changed.’
Mr Watson used the money from Mr Mosley, son of fascist leader Oswald Mosley, to fund a ninestrong office. On Wednesday he was told by Labour chiefs he could take no more money from Mr Mosley, whom he has said he was proud to call a friend.
The move was seen as a slap down by the hard-Left leadership, which is keen to curtail the deputy leader’s ability to fund an alternative, moderate power base.
Mr Watson also faced pressure this weekend from David Winnick, MP for Walsall North for 38 years until last year’s general election. He told the Express & Star newspaper that the Labour movement in general wanted to see the money returned. The £500,000 Mosley gave should be returned in my view given what has been revealed and Max Mosley being the election agent when the notorious leaflet was issued,’ he said.
‘The Labour movement doesn’t want any financial relationship whatsoever with Mosley. Max Mosley says he has changed his views but what he hasn’t done is denounce his father’s activities.
‘The Tories are the last people to give lectures about financial integrity but the pretty strong feeling is the money is going to be returned. The pressure will come from the Labour movement and the way to deal with it is by giving the money back. ’In his interview with the Guardian, Mr Mosley suggested the infamous 1961 leaflet’s statements could be accurate, even if they should not have been published.
‘There was no medical check on immigrants,’ he said. ‘That might be true. It might be true that leprosy and other terrible diseases were on the increase.’ He told the newspaper he would not have said immigration had an impact on public health because ‘the chance of children mixing with a person with TB is obviously minimal’. A spokesman for Mr Watson said last night: ‘The Labour Party has said it won’t accept any further donations from Max Mosley. He no longer holds the views he held over half a century ago.
‘I have spoken to Mr Mosley and it could not be any clearer he categorically does not believe immigrants should be offered financial inducements to leave the UK.’
The discovery of the leaflet raises the question as to whether Mr Mosley lied at his successful orgy privacy trial.
The Mail has handed a dossier to the CPS including a legally certified copy of the document.
‘Proud to call him a friend’