Does anybody remember the deputy leader of the Labour Party when it was led by Jeremy Corbyn? His name was Tom Watson and he was a right-wing obstacle.

Like many of the people who tried to get in Mr Corbyn’s way, he pretended he was on-side (sometimes). In hindsight, we could say that he said whatever he thought was to his advantage.

So it may come as no surprise to you that Watson is continuing in similar vein, now he is out of the spotlight. Maybe he thinks this will bring him some attention again.

In his newsletter (yes, I was surprised too), he has written some reality-bending tripe, as spotted by Kevin Schofield, below:

For clarity: Jeremy Corbyn never embraced factionalism; he wanted Labour to present a united front but right wing factionalists like Watson wouldn’t have it. They did everything they could to split the party because, contrary to the description of Labour on the back of their membership cards, they were – and remain – neither socialist nor democratic.

For clarity: Jeremy Corbyn has never “given succour” to Vladimir Putin. So supporters of Mr Corbyn – people we might describe as “true Labour” – don’t have to go “contorting themselves” in any way. Indeed, it is Watson who is trying to take us through contortions in order to present this twisted impression of his former leader.

Let’s have a quick look at Mr Corbyn’s record:

Here’s some further evidence of Mr Corbyn’s historical (and current) opposition to Putin:

For those who can’t read images very well:

2008: Mr Corbyn asserted that Putin was rigging elections.

2010: Mr Corbyn called for Putin’s UK assets to be frozen.

2012: Mr Corbyn called for a “Magnitsky” Act against Putin’s Russia. It would have sanctioned those it sees as human rights offenders, frozen their assets, and banned them from entering the UK.

2012: Mr Corbyn called for the Russian Arms Corps to be banned.

2016: Mr Corbyn accused Putin of war crimes in Syria.

2022: Mr Corbyn demanded that Putin withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine and end the humanitarian catastrophe there.

Oh, and he had a few things to say about the attempted murder by nerve agent of Sergei and Julia Skripal in 2018, too:

On Putin, Mr Corbyn’s conscience – and that of those of us who support him – should be clear.

And for clarity: there were occasions when Watson certainly appeared to support Jeremy Corbyn’s bid to lead our country:

If he is now saying Mr Corbyn was “never” fit to do so, then it casts (more?) doubt on his behaviour as Labour’s deputy leader.

A few years ago, a leaked Labour report (allegedly?) showed right-wingers in the party conspiring to prevent it from winning a general election by giving the impression that it was full of anti-Semites (among other things). The findings of the inquiry into the veracity of that report – promised in mid-2020 – have yet to be released.

Do you think this makes the revelations in that report less plausible – or more so?

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/

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