Corbyn’s deputy Watson asks voters not to focus on who would make best PM

LABOUr’S deputy leader yesterday pleaded with voters to back his party despite concerns over Jeremy Corbyn.

Tom Watson used a speech to the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) to insist the election should be about the attributes of local candidates rather than who ‘makes the best prime minister’. Normally, opposition parties try to play up the qualities of their leader.

But Mr Watson – who has clashed with Mr Corbyn in the past – urged activists to try to move the election focus away from the issue of leadership.

‘We’ve heard a lot of talk about the qualities you need in a prime minister,’ he said. ‘Theresa May doesn’t think that the ability to answer questions is one of them.

‘But sometimes the most important question isn’t what makes the best PM. It’s who makes the best MP.’

He said that the Usdaw activists should ask ‘who do you think is going to work harder for you?’

His comments appear to back the strategy of moderate MPs such as Exeter’s Ben Bradshaw and Barrow’s John Woodcock, who have issued personal manifestos urging voters to back them despite concerns about Mr Corbyn.

Mr Woodcock, who is facing possible deselection by supporters of the leadership, yesterday stated: ‘Labour is not going to win this election.’

Mr Watson also used yesterday’s speech to hit back at Boris Johnson’s description of Mr Corbyn as a ‘mutton-headed mugwump,’ adding: ‘Boris Johnson is a cackhanded, cheese-headed fopdoodle – with a talent for slummocking about – who would do less damage to Britain’s reputation in the world if Theresa May sacked him as Foreign Secretary and replaced him with a souvenir paperweight.’