Tom Watson has defended his decision to take £540,000 from Max Mosley amid calls for him to return the ‘racially tainted’ money.
The Labour deputy leader was called on to return the money or give it to charity after the Daily Mail revealed Formula One boss published a campaign leaflet linking non-white immigrants with diseases such as tuberculosis, VD and leprosy.
The pamphlet, supporting a candidate for his father Sir Oswald Mosley’s Union Movement in a 1961 by-election, stated: ‘Coloured immigration threatens your children’s health.’
Tom Watson defended his decision to accept £540,000-worth of donations from Max Mosley after the F1 tycoon was revealed to be behind a ‘racist’ election leaflet in 1961
Labour responded by saying neither Mr Watson nor the party would take any further payments from him.
But Culture Secretary Matt Hancock suggested he believed Mr Watson would be ‘thinking very hard’ about returning the money after Tory colleague Simon Hoare raised a general question on whether MPs should ‘hand back racially tainted money’.
Mr Mosley has said he does not ‘recognise’ the leaflet and it is ‘not something I would have ever wished to be associated with’.
He has campaigned for tighter press regulation and the Mosley family charity has provided virtually all the funding for the state-approved regulator Impress. The vast majority of publications, including MailOnline, belong to the independent regulator IPSO.
Speaking in the Commons, Mr Watson told MPs: ‘If I thought for one moment he held those views contained in that leaflet of 57 years ago, I would not have given him the time of day.
‘He is a man, though, who in the face of great family tragedy and overwhelming media intimidation, chose to use his limited resources to support the weak against the strong.’
Mosley has said he doesn’t remember a leaflet bearing his name from the 1960s. He is pictured, right, with what appears to be a cut on his knuckle during the 1958 Notting Hill riots
This pamphlet was produced in support of Walter Hesketh in November 1961. Mr Hesketh was the Union Movement’s parliamentary candidate for Moss Side
North Dorset MP Mr Hoare later said: ‘Could I invite (Mr Hancock) to maybe share his thoughts as to whether … in order to ensure a free and open democracy, the responsible thing to do for honourable members is to hand back racially tainted money?’
Mr Hancock replied: ‘On the second point, he raises a very important question that I’m sure the honourable gentleman opposite will be thinking very hard about now that he’s admitted that it was a mistake to take this money.’
Commenting on the issue yesterday, Labour MP John Mann said of Watson: ‘Obviously he needs to stop using his money immediately.’
Conservative 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.’
And fellow Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said: ‘If I were Tom Watson I would be so ashamed to be associated with someone so hostile to the British constitution and freedom of speech that I would feel obliged to pay the money back with interest.’
The campaign pamphlet 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 a court case in 2008, and his funding of Impress.
He has campaigned for tighter press regulation since the now-defunct Sunday tabloid wrongly reported the party was ‘Nazi-themed’.
In a statement released on Wednesday evening, Mr Mosley said: ‘Now that I’ve seen copies of this leaflet, I still do not recognise it.
‘It is not something I would have ever wished to be associated with. It is offensive and divisive. By contrast, I campaigned to stamp out racism in motorsport.
‘The Daily Mail’s attack over my work for my father’s party, which ended in 1963, is plainly in response to my recent letter of claim.’
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