Tom Watson

Thomas Anthony Watson (born 8 January 1967) was elected as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in September 2015. He has been the Member of Parliament]] (MP) for West Bromwich East since the 2001 general election and was Minister for Digital Engagement and Civil Service Issues at the Cabinet Office from 2008 to 2009.

In October 2011, Edward Miliband appointed Watson as the Deputy Chair of the Labour Party and the Labour Party's Campaign Co-ordinator for the 2015 general election.

On 12 September 2015, Watson was elected as his party's Deputy Leader, alongside Jeremy Corbyn, the new Leader of the Labour Party gaining 198,962 votes or 50.7%, including second preference votes from those who voted for other candidates. Since October 2016 he has also served as Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Member of Parliament
Watson was appointed as an Assistant Government Whip in September 2004. He was promoted in May 2006 to Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence. Watson was instrumental in ensuring that soldiers shot for cowardice in the First World War received posthumous pardons.

Watson served on the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee from July 2009 to September 2012.

In October 2011 Watson was promoted to become Deputy Chair of the Labour Party, to work with Jon Trickett and Michael Dugher in the Shadow Cabinet Office, running Labour's elections and campaigns.

Deputy Leader of the Labour Party
On 8 May 2015, the day after the Labour Party lost the general election, Watson announced his intention to stand in the ensuing deputy leadership election, becoming the first candidate to declare. Watson was nominated by 59 Members of Parliament, more than any of the other four candidates, and quickly emerged as the front runner in the ballot.

On 12 September he was elected as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party with 50.7% of the vote in the final round. He was also appointed Labour Party Chair and Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office by new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

In the October 2016 shadow cabinet reshuffle, Watson was made Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. In that role he called for greater scrutiny of a planned takeover of Sky UK by Murdoch-owned Fox, backed the TV licence fee, criticised government pressure on Ofcom in relation to regulation of the BBC, and proposed fairer rail ticketing for football fans.

In June 2017 Ian Lavery replaced Watson as Labour Party Chair.