Tom Watson: brutality and hostility made me quit as MP

TOM WATSON, Labour’s former deputy leader, has revealed for the first time that he was driven out of Parliament due to the “brutality and hostility” he was subjected to by the hard-left.

Speaking in the wake of Labour’s crushing election defeat, Mr Watson admitted that the “day to day” abuse he was subjected to had contributed to his decision to quit as an MP.

Highlighting the extent of the abuse faced by MPS, he claimed that at one point police had informed him that a Labour supporter had been arrested for making a death threat against him, but that party officials had failed to inform him.

He also dismissed as “political idiocy” and “collective self-harm” the botched attempt by several of Jeremy Corbyn’s allies to oust him as deputy leader on the eve of this year’s Labour annual conference.

And whilst he did not personally criticise Mr Corbyn, Mr Watson hit out at the growing animosity within the party and admitted that in 2016 he had voted for leadership rival Owen Smith.

Discussing the reasons for his departure, Mr Watson told The Guardian: “The point is that the brutality and hostility is real and it’s day to day. So I just thought: now’s the time to take a leap, do something different. You’ve had a good innings. You’ve done good stuff. Go now.”

Citing a combination of social media attacks and criticism from union leaders loyal to Mr Corbyn, he continued: “On their own, you deal with them and they’re a normal part of life.

“Combine them, and you’re carrying a very heavy load. And sometimes you’ve got to realise when that balance of life shifts and there are other things that are more rewarding.”

The ex-west Bromwich MP, whose seat was lost to the Conservatives two weeks ago, also savaged Jeremy Corbyn’s election strategy.

“I don’t even know what the message of our campaign was,” he said.

“There were announcements everywhere, but none of them got through because there were so many. You knew what Boris Johnson’s was: Get Brexit done. What was the Labour strapline?”