Watch your backs! Bruiser Watson’s sinister warning
TOM WATSON and Jeremy Corbyn are tipped to form a ‘Tom and Jerry’ duo of a Prime Minister and President in waiting.
‘PM’ Watson will be in day-to-day charge while ‘President’ Corbyn carries on campaigning.
The arrangement was illustrated when Corbyn yesterday pulled out of a scheduled interview with Andrew Marr today – to the dismay of the BBC. He was ‘too busy’, with Labour insiders, saying Watson would appear instead.
In another sign of Corbyn’s unconventional leadership style, he will not take part in the traditional weekly Prime Minister’s Questions with David Cameron. He will challenge Cameron every few weeks, but other Labour MPs, including Watson, will be given a chance to shine.
While Corbyn is happiest addressing Left-wing rallies, Watson is a renowed union bruiser and backroom political plotter. Many believe he will wield far more power than his predecessor as deputy leader, Harriet Harman.
Watson marked his election as Corbyn’s deputy by lashing out at ‘Tory sniggers’ that Labour is heading for certain defeat under its new leadership.
He warned the Conservatives to ‘watch their backs’ and claimed Labour would wipe the smile off their faces by winning power. But his repeated comments about Tory claims that Labour was doomed under Corbyn drew criticism from some Labour MPs who said it was an ‘own goal’. Watson said his message for his ‘comrades in arms’ was: ‘Let the Tories think we are weak. We will unleash the implacable power of hope.’
The son of a binman turned social worker, 48-year-old Watson is a close political and personal ally of Unite union leader Len McCluskey, a former flatmate.
Watson is expected to push for key jobs for his own inner circle including MPs Gloria De Piero, Lucy Powell and Jon Ashworth. It has led some to fear a Shadow Cabinet split between the Corbyn and Watson camps, mirroring the damaging Blair-Brown infighting.
Watson was at the heart of that feud. He was accused of playing a leading role in moves to force Blair to step down and hand over to Brown. After he wrote to Blair demanding his resignation, it emerged that Watson had secretly visited Brown’s home in Scotland.
Watson also used his influence with union allies to help Ed Miliband become Labour leader in 2010. In 2013 he resigned as Miliband’s Election co-ordinator in the wake of claims of a vote rigging scandal in Falkirk Labour Party involving his office manager, Karie Murphy.
Watson shot to prominence through his role in exposing the News of the World phone hacking scandal. At a Commons committee he sensationally likened News International chairman James Murdoch to a ‘mafia boss’. The West Bromwich East MP also helped trigger probes into alleged paedophile networks involving senior Establishment figures, including former Conservative Home Secretary Leon Brittan. However some Tories accused him of abusing parliamentary privilege to make controversial allegations
without legal consequences.