Why Tom Watson must NOT be given a peerage, by Lord Brittan’s widow
THE widow of former home secretary Lord Brittan last night warned against Tom Watson being given a peerage.
Her devastating intervention came in the wake of a damning official report which debunked his claims of a VIP paedophile ring operating at the heart of Westminster.
Lady Brittan told friends Mr Watson had ‘exploited his political platform to give credibility to unfounded smears about innocent people when he was in the House of Commons’.
This ‘ should raise serious questions about how he might use his position in the House of Lords’, she added. The views of Lady Brittan, whose husband was smeared by Mr Watson over false paedophile claims just days after he died in 2015, will increase pressure on the authorities not to give the former Labour deputy leader a peerage.
Her opinions were echoed by Michael McManus, a trustee of the Sir Edward Heath Charitable Foundation. The former prime minister was falsely accused of child sex abuse in the wake of Mr Watson’s ‘sensational’ allegations, made in 2012, of a VIP paedophile ring operating at Westminster.
Mr McManus, a biographer of Sir Edward, said: ‘Mr Watson demonstrated the most appalling judgement when he put his weight behind these totally spurious, phoney allegations against entirely innocent and blameless people.
Lives were blighted, reputations were tainted and a great deal of misery was caused. Perhaps it would be for the best if he stays out of public life for good.’
Mr McManus spoke out after Downing Street urged the committee which vets Lords appointments to consider damning findings against Mr Watson before rubber stamping his proposed peerage.
On Tuesday the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse dismissed his ‘sensational’ claims of a Westminster paedophile ring.
It said his allegations of a conspiracy involving Establishment figures were baseless and concluded there had been no cover-up.
The findings led to calls for Mr Watson – who stood down as an MP and Labour’s deputy leader before the General Election – to be barred from elevation to the Lords.
Asked yesterday whether Mr Watson should receive a peerage in the light of the review’s findings, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: ‘It is not a matter for us, but I am sure the House of Lords Appointments Commission will be considering all the most up-todate and relevant information.’
The commission is understood to have met earlier this month to discuss Mr Watson’s nomination, which was made by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Mr Watson has been criticised over his links to the fantasist ‘Nick’ – whose real name is Carl Beech – and his hounding of Lord Brittan over bogus sex claims made by another suspected fantasist, known only as ‘Jane’.