Watson won’t say if Jeremy’s fit to be PM

DEPUTY Labour leader Tom Watson dodged the question of whether Jeremy Corbyn was ‘fit to be prime minister’ yesterday, as he warned that a number of MPs were ‘perilously close’ to quitting the party.

Mr Watson was asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if Mr Corbyn was fit to run the country given his handling of the party’s anti-Semitism crisis.

He replied only that he ‘could easily be’ prime minister, adding: ‘Of course, we could do without the anti- Semitism because it allows you to ask me that question on the Today programme. We need to close these issues down and we do it by being absolutely vigilant in the way we deal with racism in our own ranks. That’s on all of us.’

It came a day after the suspension of Labour MP Chris Williamson, a close ally of Mr Corbyn, over his claims that the party has been ‘too apologetic’ about the issue.

The Labour deputy leader said Mr Williamson was ‘entitled to a fair hearing.’ But he added: ‘I’ve been very, very concerned that his comments have almost been deliberately inflammatory and causing offence to not just parliamentary colleagues but people in the Jewish community.’ Mr Watson later said he wants the inquiry into Mr Williamson’s case to be ‘ very quick’, and that it should be a matter of ‘weeks not months in my view’. He also denied he was Mr Corbyn’s deputy, telling the BBC: ‘I’m not actually Jeremy’s deputy. I was elected by 200,000 Labour Party members.’

He added: ‘I have my own man- date and I have a responsibility in light of that, which is why I am speaking out now ... I’ve asked to see Jeremy on Monday next week to talk about how we can further improve our measures to deal with anti-Semitism.’

Mr Watson described last week’s resignation of Jewish MP Luciana Berger as ‘the worst day of shame in the Labour Party’s 120-year history’, saying a pregnant young MP had been ‘bullied out of her own party by racist thugs’.

Miss Berger was one of nine MPs to quit the party last week, many of them citing anti-Semitism. Mr Watson warned more could follow them over the leadership’s failure, telling ITV’s Good Morning Britain: ‘I don’t think we can apologise enough for anti-Semitism in our ranks.

‘The only way we will rebuild trust with the British Jewish community is to deal with antiSemitism as the number one issue in my party. And I’m going to do it, because I’m not going to allow half a million Labour Party members to be tainted by racism.

‘I’ve said there’s a battle for Labour’s soul. I’m worried that colleagues feel they want to go.

‘I’m doing my best, but we are perilously close to other colleagues leaving. I just say to them again, “Stay and fight your corner”.’

‘Stay and fight your corner’