Watson faces calls to quit
TOM WATSON is preparing to face calls to quit as Labour’s deputy leader in the wake of a damning report into the catastrophic police inquiry into a Westminster paedophile ring.
Mr Watson has attempted to minimise his contacts with Carl Beech, a fantasist now serving 18 years in jail for perverting the course of justice, fraud and paedophile offences.
But a report written by Sir Richard Henriques, a retired High Court judge, will suggest that police were heavily influenced by Mr Watson’s pursuit of historic sex abuse allegations. It is understood to express concern that police may have felt under pressure.
The 150-page report is due to be published within a fortnight – although victims fear the Met Police may try to slip it out on a day dominated by Brexit, in order to minimise its impact.
The report will be devastating for Scotland Yard and raise serious questions about senior officers.
Mr Watson has tried to distance himself from Beech, who was widely
known as “Nick”. In a statement after Beech’s conviction, Mr Watson insisted “I met the man I knew as ‘Nick’ once” and that he encouraged him to take his allegations to Scotland Yard.
Mr Watson neglected to mention that he remained in email contact with Beech, who told police that he was “part of the little group supporting me”.
It is understood that Sir Richard’s report will suggest that Mr Watson’s involvement influenced their decision to take Beech’s claims seriously.
Beech, 51, had claimed in interviews that he had witnessed the murders of three children by a VIP paedophile ring whose members included Lord Brittan, the former home secretary, Edward Heath, the former prime minister and Field Marshal Lord Bramall. Police said his claims were “credible and true”.
A second report written by Sir Richard will underline Mr Watson’s alleged interference in a separate claim made by a woman known as “Jane”. The woman had claimed she was raped by Lord Brittan in the Sixties. Police concluded there was no evidence and found glaring inconsistencies in her account. But Mr Watson was accused of deliberately undermining the first inquiry, writing to the director of public
‘His attempt to apologise… in the wake of the guilty verdict is disingenuous and untruthful’
prosecutions to complain that the case had been dropped. It was reopened and Lord Brittan was questioned under caution in June 2014, seven months before he died. He was never told that he did not face charges.
Victims of Beech’s lies are expected to call for Mr Watson to step down as deputy Labour leader when the report is published. It was written in 2016 but Scotland Yard only made public a heavily redacted version that makes no mention of Mr Watson.
It is not clear if a second part of the report into “Jane’s” false claim of rape will be made public but there will be clamour for that to be released as well.
Both reports, when pieced together, are said to be very damaging for Mr Watson and will raise serious concerns.
Mr Watson has denied he was involved in any form of support group for Beech and that he made no judgment on whether he believed his claims.
But when Lord Brittan died in January 2015, Mr Watson – quoting an email from Beech whom he described as a “survivor” – wrote in a tabloid newspaper: “Yesterday, one survivor said to me that … [Brittan] was ‘as close to evil as a human being could get’.”
Lord Brittan’s widow has said: “It is too late for Tom Watson to apologise but his attempt to distance himself from the false allegations of Carl Beech in the wake of the guilty verdict is disingenuous and untruthful.”