Tom Watson MP - Dial U for Unite!

J. K. Rowling he ain't. For all the hype it seems that Wealthy Watson's co-written book on his pet obsession, Rupert Murdoch, brought in a few bob initially but this has tailed-off pretty dramatically.

The folks who were foolish enough to vote for the expenses-guzzling Labour "leftie" are, presumably, delighted with him jumping on every "right-on" bandwagon that passes since it is not as if his West Bromwich East (WBE) constituency has any problems that require attention. I am sure many citizens of WBE are not instinctive Murdoch supporters but probably don't lie awake at night in the benighted town worrying about him and his businesses. In an area wracked with poverty and deprivation they have different priorities, I suppose. How grateful they must be that their MP appears to spend every waking hour feeding his Murdoch addiction.

Back in 2013 this strutting buffoon felt the need to go to Australia to pursue his relentless campaign against Rupert and here are some interesting clips from and the full link for an article in the Guardian of 9th August, 2013, before he went:

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/aug/09/tom-watson-news-corp-murdoch

"British Labour MP and anti-Murdoch campaigner Tom Watson is preparing to fly to Australia to talk about the conduct of Rupert Murdoch’s organisation, alleging that the media proprietor has “learned nothing” from the phone hacking scandal at his newspapers in the UK.

Watson decided to fly out after seeing election coverage by News Corp Australia newspapers.....

“I’m coming out there to ask some serious questions about whether Rupert Murdoch has learned the lesson of the Leveson inquiry in the United Kingdom."

Watson plans to fly out some time in the next fortnight and said he did not have a schedule, although he has had offers and is hoping to give speeches and hold community meetings while in the country.

He added that he would have to return to the UK by 9 September, when the trials of some former News Corp staff in the UK, including Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, are due to begin.

He made the decision on Thursday night Australian time after tweeting that he was “tempted” to come out.

Within two hours he was clearing his diary and looking into flights."

It all seems rather charmingly amateurish doesn't it? Our bumbling hero has no schedule but rushes to the other side of the world to wield his shining sword of truth for the greater good of humanity. He clears his diary (!) and dashes off. What a guy! Well not quite. He made sure that he had secured £8,076 funding for flights, hotels and taxis first from the New York-based Arvaaz Foundation who, incidentally, make great play of using modern technology to promote their causes but are clearly not averse to stumping-up for sizeable buttocks to sit on plane seats as they lavished an astonishing £6,212 on the hastily-arranged flights alone!

But what of the members of Unite the Union? That Union is, of course, taking great pains to close this blog down and one of its local Regional Officers, Brian Rickers, has (presumably with the full backing of the mighty Unite) been harassing a local arts charity where my wife happens to work*. One imagines that many of the hard-working guys and gals who have to hand over their dues to Unite are probably rather against the suppression of free speech and the harassment of charities in their name but heigh ho. But I assume that they would certainly be surprised to know that Unite has also used some of their hard-earned cash to fund Wealthy Watson in his anti-Murdoch crusade.

Huge Unite Regional HQ in West Bromwich

After all, Wealthy only has his MP's salary and expenses to rely on. He was, of course, caught out in the MP's expenses scandal where his shopping habits in Marks and Spencer's food hall became the stuff of legend (mind you, on Twitter he implied in 2013 that he actually then shopped at the rather more downmarket Lidl!) In the last full financial year - 2013/2014 - his additional MP's expenses (on top of his salary but including payments to his retinue) were, I'm sure you will agree, a very modest £181,843.85p.

He has also received some business and "private" donations.

In his Register of Interests Wealthy states that he earned royalties for his book, "Dial M for Murdoch", of £13,272.20p and that, incredibly, some daft sod paid him £22,385.00p for the film rights (what a "first date" movie that would make!!!!!) Mind you, in the last full year that Watson records in the Register he only scooped, er, £115.01 for actual sales of his influential tome! Hardly enough for a meal at his favourite Soho restaurant! (Murdoch - net worth estimated by Forbes Magazine at $13.7 billion - must be wetting himself!)

But, shockingly, Unite have also paid for him to go on his foreign anti-Murdoch adventures and to pose in Los Angeles at the News Corporation (Murdoch's company) Annual General Meeting from the 20th to 23rd of October, 2011 at an incredible cost of £6,300 (yes, six thousand three hundred pounds) of their members' dues! (By the way, Unite - the real power behind Labour in Sandwell - also gave Wealthy another £3,000 pocket money in April, 2014).

There is no mention anywhere of Watson paying the £6,300 back to Unite members from his royalties and film rights but as Wealthy - allegedly - knows only too well, every Lidl helps.....

*See by blog of 2nd December, 2014 "Labour Leader & Unite Officer Harass Arts Charity!"

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