Labour have announced they will stop accepting donations from Max Mosley as the party’s Tom Watson came under pressure to hand back £540,000 he was given by the F1 tycoon.
Mr Watson, the party’s deputy leader, received £40,000 from Mr Mosley in August 2015, £200,000 in June 2016 and a £300,000 donation in February 2017.
He was called upon to return the money following the Daily Mail’s revelations that Mr Mosley published a by-election campaign leaflet which blamed non-white immigrants for diseases like tuberculosis, VD and leprosy.
A spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn said today that the party would no longer accept any donations from Mr Mosley in future, but stopped short of calling on Mr Watson to return money donated last year.
Labour deputy leader Tom Watson is under pressure to return money donated by Max Mosley
It emerged last night that Mr Mosley’s name was on an electoral leaflet from 1961 which stated: ‘Coloured immigration threatens your children’s health’. The F1 mogul is pictured today
The spokesman said: ‘I don’t believe there will be any more payments from Max Mosley to the Labour Party or to Tom Watson.
‘We have shifted away from payments and contributions from wealthy donors.’
The spokesman said in future the National Executive Committee and Mr Corbyn’s office would assess whether any donations from wealthy individuals were ‘ethical and appropriate’ for the party to accept.
MPs from both sides of the House today called on Mr Watson to hand back the money donated and distance himself from Mr Mosley.
Labour MP John Mann told MailOnline: ‘Obviously he needs to stop using his money immediately.’
Tory MP Henry Smith added: ‘The double standards of Labour’s deputy leader in refusing to return a significant donation from Max Mosley following his history of racist views is yet another example of the nasty wing that has taken over that party.’
Mr Watson appeared defiant after the leaflet emerged last night, insisting: ‘The views expressed by Max as a young man are not the views he holds now.’
The issue was raised at Prime Minister’s Questions today, where Mr Watson sat next to Jeremy Corbyn. Theresa May said: ‘I think some people would have been surprised to learn of those links with some leading politicians’
Mr Mosley has said the views expressed on the election leaflet are not views he now holds
Conservative deputy chairman James Cleverly added that Mr Watson should ‘seriously consider’ returning the money.
He told The Sun: ‘He must avoid the impression of an unhealthy connection between Labour’s position on press freedom and a wealthy donor who may find himself embarrassed by reporting of his past actions.’
In the House of Commons register of members’ interests, Mr Watson said the two biggest donations from Mr Mosley were donated via the Labour Party to support his office. The smallest one was to help fund his campaign to be Labour deputy leader.
The issue was also discussed at Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons today, where Mr Watson sat next to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Tory MP Anne Main asked: ‘A free and independent press remains vital to our country – do you share my concerns about the links Max Mosley has with Impress and the links Max Mosley has with some of our leading politicians.’
This pamphlet was produced in support of one Walter Hesketh. In November 1961, Mr Hesketh was the Union Movement’s parliamentary candidate for Moss Side
The leaflet was produced in support of ‘Union Movement’ candidate Walter Hesketh in 1961
Theresa May replied: ‘I think some people would have been surprised to learn of those links with some leading politicians.
‘I absolutely, absolutely agree with you that a free press is very important, it underpins our democracy.
‘And whatever they say about us, whatever they write about us, actually it is important they are able to hold politicians – the powerful – to account.
‘They are able to shine a light on some of the darkest corners of our society, and as far as I am concerned, while I am Prime Minister, that will never change.’
Privacy campaigner Max Mosley published the controversial pamphlet supporting a candidate for his father Sir Oswald Mosley’s Union Movement in a 1961 parliamentary contest.
The discovery raises questions over evidence which Mr Mosley gave under oath in a High Court trial when he successfully sued the News Of The World in 2008.
Mr Mosley suggested he would continue to support Mr Watson during a TV interview last night
Asked in court about his political activities as a young man, Mr Mosley acknowledged he was election agent for Union Movement candidate Walter Hesketh in the 1961 by-election in Moss Side.
But he said it was ‘absolute nonsense’ to suggest he had put out leaflets alleging that coloured immigrants brought diseases with them.
And pressed on whether the literature urged voters to ‘send blacks home’, he replied: ‘Not as I recall.’
The election handout found by the Mail states that it was ‘published by Max Mosley’.
It includes the warning: ‘Protect your health. There is no medical check on immigration. Tuberculosis, VD and other terrible diseases like leprosy are on the increase. Coloured immigration threatens your children’s health.’
It also states that ‘if enough people vote for me in this election, the government… will be sending coloured immigrants home, instead of bringing more in’ and urges voters ‘let us give the coloured people a fair deal by sending them back to good jobs and good wages at home in Jamaica’.
This is the Daily Mail photograph from May 1958, which shows Max Mosley’s early participation in the thuggish street politics of his father Sir Oswald’s Union Movement, which had been founded ten years earlier
Max Mosley, left, with what appears to be a cut on his right knuckle and a plaster on his left, stands next to his clench-fisted brother Alexander during the Notting Hill riots in 1958
The document came to light as Mr Mosley pursues an effort to prevent newspapers from referring to the sex party reported in the News Of The World which prompted the 2008 court case.
The former Formula One boss has campaigned for tighter press regulation since the now-defunct Sunday tabloid wrongly reported the party was ‘Nazi-themed’, and has donated funds to controversial regulator Impress.
Questioned over the leaflet on Channel 4 News last night, Mr Mosley said: ‘This was a statement in a leaflet which I am not even sure is genuine, which would never reflect my view, it would not reflect my view then or now because I simply wouldn’t dream of insulting people.’
He added: ‘I have never been a racist, I am not a racist, never will be a racist.’
Asked whether he is a fit and proper person to be funding Mr Watson, he replied: ‘Absolutely.’
Asked if he would be donating more money, he replied: ‘Why should I not support Tom Watson, who is probably one of the most honest and courageous politicians we have got.’
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