K.Harvey Proctor was MP for Basildon from 1979 to 1983 and for Billericay from 1983 to 1987.
In 2020, the House of Lords Appointments Commission rightly denied Tom Watson a peerage. Keir Starmer is now flying in the face of the Commission and has nominated Watson again. I opposed Watson’s elevation last time. The facts have not changed, nor have they been challenged. I oppose it now.
Edwin Bramall, the former Head of the Armed Forces, Leon Brittan, the former Home Secretary and Edward Heath were Watson’s principal targets when he supported Carl Beech’s (a.k.a “Nick”) false allegations of paedophilia and child murder in 2014. The Metropolitan Police investigation that followed was Operation Midland.
The most reasonable explanation for Watson’s conduct is as follows. That he eyeballed a potential gap in the market for a politician to sympathise with alleged victims of sexual abuse. That he, and others, appropriated the issue of historical child sexual abuse for their own dastardly and opportunist agendas. And that he, against a background of growing concern over low rape convictions, influenced by gossip and rumour on the internet and social media and, spurred on a compulsion to grandstand, sought to interview alleged victims before investigating their claims.
The Met allowed Watson to become a stakeholder in Operation Vincente – the investigation into false allegations about Lord Brittan. Watson exerted undue influence on the police and the Director of Public Prosecutions to harass the terminally ill Brittan into an early grave. Upon Brittan’s death, Watson described him as being “as close to evil as any human being could get”.
This contemptible comment was not original; it originated from Beech – the very man Watson claimed had not disclosed to him any names of his alleged abusers and with whom he had had only one meeting, where he had spoken very little.
Watson snubbed parliamentary convention by meeting Beech, who was not his constituents, at the Commons in his pursuit for evidence to corroborate his 2012 claim that there was an all-powerful Westminster VIP paedophile ring.
By meeting various fraudsters and fantasists, Watson added credibility to allegations, hearsay, and rumours. He also met with convicted fraudster and fantasist Chris Fay, a former Labour councillor who pushed false claims of high-level sexual abuse of children at the now Elm Guest House in south-west London.
These false allegations were also aimed at Lord Brittan and other Tory MPs, both past and present, including myself. Watson’s various meetings with Beech persuaded him he was supporting him and, in Beech’s words, was part of his “team”. “I talked to Tom at some length”, Beech said. Watson not only advised him, correctly, to go to the police but then kept in touch with him by email.
The police were in so much fear and dread of Watson after his phone-hacking campaign days that Operation Midland’s Senior Investigating Officer, Diane Tudway, listed Watson’s meddling as a “priority” and called for a review of “how we can engage with him”. The Met abandoned proper policing and blindly joined his campaign. The police thought others would do their work. They did what politicians do – going on on television and radio and issuing soundbites. Supinely and inertly, they sat in their ivory tower offices, waiting for corroborating accounts to come forward. None did!
For these reasons, I believe Watson was not fit to continue as a MP. Before the last general election, I threatened to stand against him. He retired rather than accept the contest. The Labour Party should have suspended him forthwith and, upon investigation, expel him from their Party for having brought it into disrepute. Such should be the penalty for crossing the line on the clear distinction between police and politicians, traditional to our previously respected criminal justice system.
As for a Westminster VIP paedophile ring, the existence of which Mr Watson proclaimed within the safety of parliamentary privilege at Prime Minister’s Questions in 2012, there was no such ring. Three police forces failed to find any evidence of one – Wiltshire, the Met and Northumbria. The CPS failed to find the existence of one.
In finding Beech guilty on all charges of falsehood and fraud, the jury at his trial took less than five hours to concur that there was no such paedophile ring. In a statement in 2019, a Met Commander, Neil Jerome, confirmed to the Independent Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse that there was no Westminster VIP paedophile ring. Based on 72 reports, Jerome asserted “I am content that there is no evidence of a Westminster paedophile network or of any evidence of an attempt to cover up or suppress the existence of such a network”.
Watson’s judgement has been found to be, repeatedly and consistently, at fault. It is a fatal character defect for a politician, particularly one who was Deputy Leader of the Opposition. Watson should now show remorse and admit he was economical with the truth, at best. He should apologise for the public panic he instilled, and leave the public arena to reflect on the unquestionable harm he has caused.
Watson should not be allowed to stain the benches of the House of Lords. He crucified the reputations of others who sat in the House of Lords for no just reason. Nothing has changed. The apologies he has made to Bramall’s family, Lady Diana Brittan and others have been half-hearted and to me – no apology at all.
As for Sir Keir Starmer, his nomination to ennoble Watson illustrates his distinct lack of judgement. Coupled with his ‘believe the victim’ policy when he was DPP which contributed to overthrowing centuries of innocent until proven guilty – something he still refuses to answer questions on – illustrates that he too is not fit for public office.
K.Harvey Proctor was MP for Basildon from 1979 to 1983 and for Billericay from 1983 to 1987.
In 2020, the House of Lords Appointments Commission rightly denied Tom Watson a peerage. Keir Starmer is now flying in the face of the Commission and has nominated Watson again. I opposed Watson’s elevation last time. The facts have not changed, nor have they been challenged. I oppose it now.
Edwin Bramall, the former Head of the Armed Forces, Leon Brittan, the former Home Secretary and Edward Heath were Watson’s principal targets when he supported Carl Beech’s (a.k.a “Nick”) false allegations of paedophilia and child murder in 2014. The Metropolitan Police investigation that followed was Operation Midland.
The most reasonable explanation for Watson’s conduct is as follows. That he eyeballed a potential gap in the market for a politician to sympathise with alleged victims of sexual abuse. That he, and others, appropriated the issue of historical child sexual abuse for their own dastardly and opportunist agendas. And that he, against a background of growing concern over low rape convictions, influenced by gossip and rumour on the internet and social media and, spurred on a compulsion to grandstand, sought to interview alleged victims before investigating their claims.
The Met allowed Watson to become a stakeholder in Operation Vincente – the investigation into false allegations about Lord Brittan. Watson exerted undue influence on the police and the Director of Public Prosecutions to harass the terminally ill Brittan into an early grave. Upon Brittan’s death, Watson described him as being “as close to evil as any human being could get”.
This contemptible comment was not original; it originated from Beech – the very man Watson claimed had not disclosed to him any names of his alleged abusers and with whom he had had only one meeting, where he had spoken very little.
Watson snubbed parliamentary convention by meeting Beech, who was not his constituents, at the Commons in his pursuit for evidence to corroborate his 2012 claim that there was an all-powerful Westminster VIP paedophile ring.
By meeting various fraudsters and fantasists, Watson added credibility to allegations, hearsay, and rumours. He also met with convicted fraudster and fantasist Chris Fay, a former Labour councillor who pushed false claims of high-level sexual abuse of children at the now Elm Guest House in south-west London.
These false allegations were also aimed at Lord Brittan and other Tory MPs, both past and present, including myself. Watson’s various meetings with Beech persuaded him he was supporting him and, in Beech’s words, was part of his “team”. “I talked to Tom at some length”, Beech said. Watson not only advised him, correctly, to go to the police but then kept in touch with him by email.
The police were in so much fear and dread of Watson after his phone-hacking campaign days that Operation Midland’s Senior Investigating Officer, Diane Tudway, listed Watson’s meddling as a “priority” and called for a review of “how we can engage with him”. The Met abandoned proper policing and blindly joined his campaign. The police thought others would do their work. They did what politicians do – going on on television and radio and issuing soundbites. Supinely and inertly, they sat in their ivory tower offices, waiting for corroborating accounts to come forward. None did!
For these reasons, I believe Watson was not fit to continue as a MP. Before the last general election, I threatened to stand against him. He retired rather than accept the contest. The Labour Party should have suspended him forthwith and, upon investigation, expel him from their Party for having brought it into disrepute. Such should be the penalty for crossing the line on the clear distinction between police and politicians, traditional to our previously respected criminal justice system.
As for a Westminster VIP paedophile ring, the existence of which Mr Watson proclaimed within the safety of parliamentary privilege at Prime Minister’s Questions in 2012, there was no such ring. Three police forces failed to find any evidence of one – Wiltshire, the Met and Northumbria. The CPS failed to find the existence of one.
In finding Beech guilty on all charges of falsehood and fraud, the jury at his trial took less than five hours to concur that there was no such paedophile ring. In a statement in 2019, a Met Commander, Neil Jerome, confirmed to the Independent Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse that there was no Westminster VIP paedophile ring. Based on 72 reports, Jerome asserted “I am content that there is no evidence of a Westminster paedophile network or of any evidence of an attempt to cover up or suppress the existence of such a network”.
Watson’s judgement has been found to be, repeatedly and consistently, at fault. It is a fatal character defect for a politician, particularly one who was Deputy Leader of the Opposition. Watson should now show remorse and admit he was economical with the truth, at best. He should apologise for the public panic he instilled, and leave the public arena to reflect on the unquestionable harm he has caused.
Watson should not be allowed to stain the benches of the House of Lords. He crucified the reputations of others who sat in the House of Lords for no just reason. Nothing has changed. The apologies he has made to Bramall’s family, Lady Diana Brittan and others have been half-hearted and to me – no apology at all.
As for Sir Keir Starmer, his nomination to ennoble Watson illustrates his distinct lack of judgement. Coupled with his ‘believe the victim’ policy when he was DPP which contributed to overthrowing centuries of innocent until proven guilty – something he still refuses to answer questions on – illustrates that he too is not fit for public office.