Political

New book says Jo Swinson invited Tom Watson to stand in Lewes

The Sunday Times has published an extract from a new book that sets out how former Labour Party Deputy Leader Tom Watson turned down an invitation from Jo Swinson to stand for the Liberal Democrats:

Here’s a snippet from that story:

Jo Swinson and Tom Watson book extract

The exact is from a new book, Left Out: The Inside Story of Labour Under Corbyn by Gabriel Pogrund and Patrick Maguire (available from Waterstones and Amazon).

As I wrote last September:

You may well not know the history of some of the campaigns against the party which Tom Watson has run or been closely involved with.

They included some of the most aggressive, illiberal and personalised smears I’ve seen in politics until the last few years. He and the Liberal Democrats have frequently been very much at odds, including over Parliamentary reform.

He may have changed, he may have mellowed, and he may have become more liberal. Certainly, there have been some good causes he’s worked cross-party on and I even did a tiny bit of that with him a few years back (so tiny, he’s probably forgotten!). And I’m usually first in the queue to say that people can have changed rather than have their past held against them forever.

I mention this in case you wonder why some longer-standing party members, especially those on the receiving ends of such campaigns, react frostily to postings from newer members saying how great it’d be if he joined.

You can buy Left Out: The Inside Story of Labour Under Corbyn by Gabriel Pogrund and Patrick Maguire from Waterstones and Amazon.

2 responses to “New book says Jo Swinson invited Tom Watson to stand in Lewes”

    • It all depends on why and how you change it. Those who find their own moral stance is best expressed in a different forum is one thing. Blowing about with the wind of fortune for self-advancement is something else, for instance.

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