Tom Watson’s peerage ‘is rejected by independent watchdog over his support for false VIP paedophile ring claim by fantasist Carl Beech’
- Former deputy Labour leader Tom Watson’s peerage was blocked, it was claimed
- This is reportedly due to his support for false allegations made by Carl Beech
- He demanded police investigate Beech’s claims about a VIP paedophile ring
- He is said to be the third of Jeremy Corbyn’s peerage nominees to be blocked
Former deputy Labour leader Tom Watson has had his peerage blocked, it was claimed last night.
He is reported to have been rejected by the independent watchdog over his support for false allegations of a VIP paedophile ring made by fantasist ‘Nick’.
He had demanded that police investigate allegations made by Carl Beech, who was later jailed.
Mr Watson is thought to be the third of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s nominees for the 2019 dissolution honours whose peerage is understood to have been blocked.
Former deputy Labour leader Tom Watson (pictured) has had his peerage blocked by the independent watchdog, it was claimed last night
Former Speaker John Bercow and Mr Corbyn’s ex-chief of staff Karie Murphy are said to have been prevented from going to the Lords over concerns about their ‘propriety’.
Mr Watson was engulfed in controversy after he championed the claims of the man known as ‘Nick’, who falsely claimed he had been abused by Westminster paedophiles.
Harvey Proctor, a former Conservative MP smeared by the allegations, has led a campaign to deny Mr Watson a peerage.
Yesterday a source told The Independent that, unlike the other nominations, there was ‘more of an argument’ about Mr Watson’s case, and ‘a lot of umming and ahhing’.
It was separately reported that Mr Corbyn had been told that Mr Bercow and Miss Murphy would not be approved while questions remained about allegations against them.
Mr Bercow, who served as Speaker for a decade until last year, was referred to the parliamentary commissioner for standards in January over allegations of bullying.
He is accused by parliamentary officials of creating a climate of ‘fear and intimidation’, which he denies.
However, there are also suggestions that Mr Bercow’s peerage has not been approved because he is a former Tory MP, and not a Labour nominee.
Tom Watson’s peerage was reportedly rejected due to his support of false allegations of a VIP paedophile ring made by fantasist Carl Beech (pictured), who was later jailed
Miss Murphy is involved in the Equality and Human Rights Commission investigation into whether Labour is institutionally anti-Semitic.
She denies wrongdoing, but is named in submissions to the inquiry alongside other officials.
Unless investigations are completed before the deadline for the appointments, they will not go ahead, according to the Sunday Times.
The House of Lords Appointments Commission defines ‘propriety’ to mean ‘the individual should be in good standing in the community in general and with the public regulatory authorities in particular; and the past conduct of the nominee would not reasonably be regarded as bringing the House of Lords into disrepute’.
Downing Street sees the nominees only once they are approved or rejected by the commission.
A prime minister has never previously rejected the advice of the commission on referring nominations to the Queen for final approval.
Mr Watson and Mr Bercow did not respond to requests for comment. Miss Murphy said she did not know that her nomination had been rejected.
She told The Independent: ‘I speak to Jeremy every other day.’