Tommygate continues to bemuse. Is Watson the first minister to resign in order to spend more time with the Chancellor’s family?
The “cover story” – that Watson was merely visiting to give Brown’s baby a present – is so laugh-out-loud unlikely that it could actually be true – who would make up an alibi like that? On the other hand, its very unlikelihood could be purpose built to bamboozle us.
Watson is, of course, a past mater of the bamboozle, managing to portray the Hodge Hill by-election as a magnificent victory when the truth is it was a rout as far as Labour were concerned.
But one thing has become apparent from all this – none of the political correspondents have a clue who he is, with Jackie Ashley thinking he is a horny-handed Scottish trade unionist (instead of the lily-livered ex-student hack from the Midlands we all know), and Michael White calling him, of all things, a Brownite.
“Brownite” = cockney rhyming slang?