Tom Watson’s shame

CONFRONTED this week with damning details of his racist past, Max Mosley claimed his record in motorsport shows he ‘does not tolerate racism’, and that he stopped endorsing such views in 1963.

Yet today, the Mail reveals how he was a passionate supporter of Apartheid South Africa – a regime he exploited to build, with Bernie Ecclestone, a £6billion F1 empire.

They handed the white supremacist state a propaganda victory by holding F1 races right up until 1985 – while other sports were boycotting the country in disgust.

Elsewhere, we reveal the infamous £1million donation from F1 to Tony Blair’s Labour in 1997 – at a time when the sport was exempted from a tobacco advertising ban – was also allegedly intended to smooth the way for Mr Mosley to secure a safe Labour seat.

All this is proof – as our series has shown this week – of Mr Mosley’s habit of airbrushing his story. It will heap pressure on Labour deputy leader Tom Watson and the board of state-approved Press regulator Impress to hand back all of Mr Mosley’s money.

Despite all the evidence, an arrogant Mr Watson yesterday clung on desperately to his benefactor, and attacked ministers for not launching another hugely expensive Leveson Inquiry and new laws to shackle the Press.

It was outrageous of Mr Watson to start a paedophile witch hunt against prominent Tories. It was outrageous of him to take money from such a man as Mr Mosley. His position is indefensible.

The Mail, for its part, welcomes Culture Secretary Matt Hancock’s review of one of the most important questions for our democracy – how the news industry can survive in a digital age.