£90k donations for West Bromwich East MP Tom Watson as he steps up Labour deputy leadership bid
Tom Watson has declared nearly £90,000 in donations towards his bid to become Labour's deputy leader.
And it is on top of around £17,000 he has raised through online 'crowd funding', taking his total to more than £100,000.
The MP for West Bromwich East has been consistently seen as the frontrunner among the five candidates the post in nominations by other MPs and constituency Labour parties.
Shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint is the only other candidate to have declared donations in the published register of MPs' interests, to the tune of £37,253.
Stella Creasy, Angela Eagle and Ben Bradshaw have not declared any donations for their deputy leadership bids in the latest register.
One of Mr Watson's backers is the Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who contributed £4,000.
Mr Watson's donations also eclipse some of those standing for the vacant leadership of the party.
Left winger and frontrunner Jeremy Corbyn and the shadow care minister Liz Kendall have declared nothing and £36,500 respectively in donations to their campaigns.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has declared £81,973 and shadow health secretary Andy Burnham has declared £132,500.
Bookmaker Paddy Power are taking Tom Watson's financial clout as a sign of strength as they have placed him a 1/8 favourite to be the next deputy-leader with his closest rival, Stella Creasy, at 9/2.
Ben Bradshaw is the rank outsider at 50/1 with Angela Eagle at 33/1 and Caroline Flint at 12/1.
An survey has, however, put Miss Creasy just ahead of Mr Watson.
The survey for LabourList forced Paddy Power to cut Mr Watson's odds from 1/25 to 1/8. Miss Creasy was previously out at 8/1.
The survey shows that the West Bromwich East MP may no longer be the clear favourite for the race.
A total of 31 per cent said they wanted Miss Creasy to be the next deputy-leader of the Labour party, with Mr Watson on 27 per cent. In the last survey that LabourList released, Mr Watson had the lead with 33 per cent.
The survey, which has both Miss Eagle and Miss Flint neck and neck on 18 per cent, was taken by 2,791 people.