Now Tom Watson is trying to backstab Jeremy Corbyn over Brexit again. Time for a Labour deputy leader election?
Proudly backstabbing: If Tom Watson really wanted to support the pro-European cause, he would be demanding the annulment of the 2016 referendum result that was based on false information.
With the Conservatives holding a summer leadership election, this would appear the perfect time to remove Labour’s turncoat deputy leader from a position he has unceasingly betrayed.
When he was campaigning for the deputy leader role in 2015, Tom Watson promised unswerving support for whoever became leader. Little did he know that Jeremy Corbyn would be that leader, with landslide support from the party membership.
It raised the curtain on nearly four years of backstabbing and betrayal, of which his speech on Brexit today (June 17) is merely the latest manifestation.
In his speech, Mr Watson demanded that Labour must become a firmly anti-democratic party, adopting an anti-Brexit stance in defiance of the national vote that narrowly supported leaving the European Union in 2016.
Personally, This Writer supported remaining in the EU, and I still think it would have been the wisest choice. But rejecting the choice that was made is not the answer and Mr Watson is only demanding it because it puts Mr Corbyn on the spot.
Under Mr Corbyn’s direction, Labour’s policy has been to make the best of the situation, working to get the best exit deal possible and reject damaging Tory plans, while keeping in reserve the possibility of going back to the electorate for confirmation of the decision if it becomes impossible to move forward. It is a wise policy, considering the circumstances.
If Mr Watson wanted to mount a credible challenge, he could have called on Labour to support an investigation into the legality of the 2016 referendum result. Proof of interference by foreign powers and other political operators has emerged since the result was announced, and it has been demonstrated that voters were exposed to false information – most famously the claim that £350m a week could be given to the NHS after Brexit – which brings it into doubt.
Switzerland recently annulled a referendum result after it was revealed that the public had been exposed to false claims – why shouldn’t this happen in the UK?
Because Tom Watson is too busy trying to backstab his leader – that’s why.
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Tom needs the sack ps without a letter stating to his future employer I’m a backstabbing git
Given the convention of ‘collective responsibility’ means that the official position of the party must not be deliberately and publicly disputed by any members of the (Shadow) cabinet, are there not grounds already for Watson to be forcibly removed? I mean, he can clearly be fired from the Shadow Cabinet, and how can a Deputy Leader of the Opposition Party remain in that role without being in the SC?
Whether disloyal or not he is IMO stating the bleedin’ obvious and identifying a winning policy.
So you think it is permissible for a party deputy leader to betray the will of the membership, as decided at the 2018 party conference?
Do you think that is democratic?
£ONG overdue!
Of Course. People may be taken in by his words. But he is a empty man. watery.No strength there at all.
They are both bad, playing to their own basic hobbiest politics and ambitious egos.
Mr Corbyn is following Labour Party policy, as decided by the members in the 2018 party conference. Please explain how that is playing to his own “hobbiest politics and ambitious ego”.
I’m unclear how a deputy advising his boss to keep his promise to be led by the membership is disloyal. The issue is not Watson’s track record but the policy he is advocating for on behalf of the majority of the Party membership (130 CLP resolutions already for a public vote with Remain as an option now? Delaying til a Conference vote 3 months after the appointment of an extraordinarily dangerous Etonian right wing extremist to be PM desperate to achieve a No Deal which might involve proroguing Parliament?) Things are now urgent. The situation is not what it was 3 years ago. Annulling the referendum decision is politically and constitutionally impossible. No Deal is something nobody voted for. Boris will be PM committed to No Deal. Labours job is to oppose. The views of loyal shadow cabinet members and the membership of the party need to be followed. I think it is probably the MPs who blocked a vote to stop a No Deal who need removing because they are helping to made austerity a permanent feature in their constituencies and this country. Corbyn’s Office will make Corbyn’s policy and our Party an electoral irrelevance if they persist in their advice to him to maintain constructive ambiguity. My grandfather, Labour Party agent in Twickenham both before and after the 39-45 war, taught me that “it is not the man” (in this case Watson or Corbyn) “but his policy that counts”. The facts have changed. Policy needs to reflect that. Everything cannot sensibly be reduced to issues of personal loyalty, especially to a leader who spent decades decrying unquestioning and silent loyalty to Labour policies or Leaders that were wrong or that stopped addressing the realities.
Watson wasn’t advising his boss to keep his promise to be led by the membership. Jeremy Corbyn has kept that promise. He is following the instructions of the party membership. Your point about Mr Corbyn’s own choices to vote against New Labour policies is worth considering here. He hasn’t demanded that the members be unquestioningly or silently loyal – he acted on their instructions.
Why is it impossible to annul the referendum decision? Switzerland did such a thing only last week.
Labour’s job is to advocate what the party believes is best for the UK – not to oppose unconditionally.
“No Deal is something nobody voted for.” You cannot possibly know this. Most people weren’t even aware that there could, or would be a deal. The vote was to stay, or go; there were no conditions attached to the question that could be expressed in the answer. Many people assumed that a vote to leave meant just that. We must cease and desist from putting words into other people’s mouths and instead, speak only for ourselves. People are fed up of being told what they did and did not vote for; they can speak for themselves.
Isn’t Watson simply stating his opinion? Is that not allowed? He’s a remainer – like me. Does this mean that the Labour party is now a “leave” party? As the country is no longer a leave one, this will not end well.
Labour is a democratic party. Unfortunately for the UK, more people voted to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum, than to remain in the bloc. You seem misinformed about the facts of this matter. The feelings of the population at large are now immaterial. If people who didn’t vote now regret what they did, it is too late. The mandate has been given. As I’ve stated before, I don’t believe the 2016 result should be honoured because it has been proven that people were deliberately misled. But Parliament is flatly refusing to accept this.
Tom Watson, as a member of the Labour leadership, should follow Labour policy, which is as decided by party members at the 2018 conference. It is not his place to go speechifying about what he, personally, wants.
Just sick to death of Watson disrupting the Party. He knows what was agreed at Conference. Therefore there is not reason for him to continue to sound like a petulant child throwing his toys around. Time for him to be shown the door.
Who would I prefer to see as leader? Watson or Corbyn? Then it’s Watson. I am a remain voter, you know one of those 16.8 million who voted and 2.5 million ignored and I am utterly sick with Corbyn following his own Brexit agenda. You moan at your treatment by the Labour Party, then join the bloody club. At least Tom Watson is speaking for us
I voted Remain too. I think the result of the 2016 referendum is not valid because some people based their votes unwittingly on lies. But Parliament doesn’t feel that way at the moment and we have to work within the current situation. Labour can’t change attitudes to the referendum on its own; it only has 38 per cent of MPs. And ‘Leave’ won.
Neither your vote nor mine was ignored. They were both counted. But more people voted to leave the EU and, as a democratic party, Labour must honour that choice.
Mr Corbyn is not following any agenda of his own. He is following Labour Party policy, as determined by the members at the 2018 party conference.
Tom Watson isn’t speaking for you. He’s not interested in what’s best for the United Kingdom – that’s not why he made his speech. He’s interested in Tom Watson. He knows his own ambitions won’t get anywhere in a Corbyn government so he is trying to undermine his leader in any way he can, contrary to his promise when he became deputy leader in 2015.
Please understand that.
It’s not about remain, or leave. It’s about Tom Watson’s persistent undermining of the Party leader, on just about everything. What part of democracy doesn’t he understand? He wasn’t voted leader, Jeremy Corbyn was. His job is to support the leader, not try to unseat him, in order to follow his own personal ambition.
I voted remain as well. But, I also listened carefully to what Mr. Corbyn said over the last few years and would advise many of you to pay careful attention to which facts you actually listen to. Unless you actually are in Mr. Corbyn’s presence and watch his lips as he speaks, there is no telling who you are actually listening to. The time is upon us when, if a newspaper adjusts the truth, that newspaper must be made to repair the damage or no longer be a newspaper! Lies are far too easy for the “Bought” press. Only then will you get to know the real truth! The right wing adores showering the population with oofle dust, but you do NOT have to swallow it! Of course, I include the “British Broadcasting Conservatives” in this!