Tom Watson, Baron Watson Of Wyre Forest

Thomas Anthony Watson, Baron Watson of Wyre Forest (born 8 January 1967) is a British former politician who served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2019 and Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2016 to 2019. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for West Bromwich East from 2001 to 2019. Since 2022 he has been a member of the House of Lords.

Born in Sheffield, Watson was raised in Kidderminster where he was educated at King Charles I School. He first became involved in Labour Party and trade union activism when studying at the University of Hull and was chair of the National Organisation of Labour Students from 1992 to 1993. After working in marketing and advertising, he began working full-time for the Labour Party, including on its 1997 general election campaign, and then for the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union.

Elected MP for West Bromwich East at the 2001 general election, Watson was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Veterans from May to September 2006 and Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office from 2008 to 2009. In October 2011, Ed Miliband appointed him as the Labour Party's National Campaign Coordinator and as Deputy Chair of the National Executive Committee. He resigned from both roles in July 2013 following a controversy over the selection of a new parliamentary candidate for Falkirk to replace Eric Joyce.

On 12 September 2015, Watson was elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, alongside new leader Jeremy Corbyn, gaining 198,962 votes or 50.7%, including second preference votes from those who voted for other candidates. Following the conviction of Carl Beech in July 2019 for making false allegations of paedophilia, Watson was criticised by high-profile victims and their relatives for his role in the affair. On 6 November 2019, Watson announced that he would be standing down both as an MP and as Deputy Leader, and leave office on 12 December 2019, stating that his reasons for standing down were "personal, not political". He later admitted that he had voted for Owen Smith in the 2016 leadership election. In March 2020, he was appointed chair of UK Music and later that year was made a senior adviser on problem gambling to Flutter Entertainment.

Early life and career

Watson was born in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, and educated at King Charles I School, Kidderminster, although he left before completing his A-Levels. At the age of 17, in 1984, he became a trainee library assistant at the Labour Party’s Walworth Road headquarters. He then worked as a marketing officer and advertising account executive.

He later studied as a mature student at the University of Hull, where he was active in the Hull University Labour Club and elected President of the Students' Union in 1992, although he did not complete his degree. He was chair of the National Organisation of Labour Students from 1992 to 1993.

In 1993, he again worked for the Labour Party as National Development Officer for Youth and then worked on the party's 1997 general election campaign. He then left to become the National Political Officer of the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union.

Early parliamentary career

Watson was elected MP for West Bromwich East at the 2001 general election. He served on the Home Affairs Select Committee from 2001 to 2003, and supported the committee's recommendation on UK drug policy to "initiate a discussion within the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of alternative ways – including the possibility of legalisation and regulation – to tackle the global drugs dilemma". In his first year in parliament, he launched a campaign to ban album sales of convicted sex offender Gary Glitter.

In 2002, Watson moved a Ten Minute Rule Bill to change organ donation laws. Later that year, he was a leading candidate for the chair of the Labour Friends of Israel alongside Stephen Byers.

In 2003, Watson voted in favour of going to war with Iraq, and subsequently voted consistently against an investigation into the war.

In 2004 he won the ''New Statesman'' New Media Award in the category of elected representative for being one of the first MPs to use his blog to further the democratic process.

Watson was campaign chair for Labour in the Birmingham Hodge Hill by-election in July 2004. The campaign drew criticism for its dirty tactics, particularly a Labour leaflet proclaiming "Labour is on your side – the Lib Dems are on the side of failed asylum seekers", for which Watson later admitted responsibility and expressed regrets.

In government

Watson was appointed as an assistant government whip in September 2004. He was promoted in May 2006 to Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Veterans and was instrumental in ensuring that soldiers shot for cowardice in the First World War received posthumous pardons. On 5 September 2006, it was reported he had signed a letter to Tony Blair urging the Prime Minister's resignation to end the uncertainty over his succession. The Chief Whip, Jacqui Smith, told Watson that evening to either withdraw his signature to the letter or resign his post. On 6 September 2006, he resigned his ministerial position and released a further statement calling on Blair to resign. Blair was quoted by the BBC
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