Max Mosley gives Tom Watson £200,000 donation
Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson received £200,000 from former motor racing chief Max Mosley to run his private office, according to the latest register of members' interests.
Mosley, a longtime campaigner for press regulation, gave the money to the West Bromwich East MP last month via the Labour party in the middle of the attempted coup to oust Jeremy Corbyn from office.
The donation was registered with the House of Commons authority on June 28 – two days after the Labour coup against Mr Corbyn began and just as Mr Watson was attempting to negotiate an exit for the leader.
Mr Mosley, who began campaigning for tougher press regulation after being the subject of an expose in the News of the World, previously gave Watson £12,500 in cash and £27,554.06 in free printing during his deputy leadership campaign last year.
Prior to last year's general election, the Labour party turned down a £1million offer from Mr Mosley to fund a campaign linking David Cameron to the phone hacking scandal.
Mr Watson has been a vocal exponent for greater press regulation in Parliament and previously listed the issue on the front page of his Labour deputy leadership campaign website.
His deputy leadership campaign was also boosted by donations from the union Unite and the author JK Rowling.
The £200,000 donation marks the biggest one that Mr Watson has received this year to run his private office.
Mr Watson said: "I'm very grateful to Max for making a generous donation to help me with the cost of staffing my office."
