Chris Williamson: Tom Watson sabotaged Labour and is to blame for its defeat

28 December 2019, 11:32

Chris Williamson, formerly a Labour MP who was suspended from the party, responded to Tom Watson's accusations against the Labour Party of "brutality".

Chris Williamson said: "He [Tom Watson] and many people in the Parliamentary Labour Party have sought to sabotage and undermine Jeremy's leadership.

"They've gone completely against the wishes of the party membership who overwhelmingly elected Jeremy the first instance and then reelected him with an even bigger margin.

"He's completely and conveniently ignored the fact that under Jeremy's leadership, despite the worst possible run into an election campaign in my lifetime, probably ever, in 2017, we secured the biggest increase in vote share since 2017."

He added: "Let's also remember that even in this election which obviously didn't go well, Labour achieved a bigger proportion of the vote and more people voted Labour the election I think since 2001. "

Conceded that it was a "disastrous night for the Labour Party" but "the fault for that lies fairly and squarely with people like Tom Watson in the Parliamentary Labour Party because they've, as I've already said, they subjected Jeremy and the party membership to these relentless attacks and assaults".

Responding to the news that Tom Watson had a death threat that wasn't deal with by the Labour Party, Williamson said that "nobody has been subject to more abuse than Jeremy Corbyn".

He later said: "Tom has been the chief architect of the sabotage that the Labour Party was subject to."

Wiliamson claimed that Watson spent his "entire time trying to undermine Jeremy Corbyn".

He said there was a "smear campaign" against Jeremy Corbyn and asked where the media outrage was about that.

Williamson claimed: "Only an idiot would suggest that the media hasn't been involved in a smear campaign against Jeremy Corbyn, that's very clear."