Tom Watson: follow the money

19 Jul

Since becoming Labour Deputy Leader in September 2015, Tom has had just shy of  £97,000 from two Israel lobbyists, Trevor Chinn and David Garrard, and from Labour Friends of Israel.

On Facebook I came across the list below, taken from the Register of Members’ Interests. The latter is not the easiest of sites when (a) the information is not in tabular form and (b) you have to search afresh on each year. But I checked the FB claims for Chinn in the years 2017 and 2018.

All stand up.

27th June 2018, Sir Trevor Chinn, £5,000
26th January 2018, Sir Trevor Chinn, £5,000
15th November 2018, Sir Trevor Chinn, £5,000
13th July 2017, Sir Trevor Chinn, £5,000
28th April 2017, Sir Trevor Chinn, £5,000
27th February 2017, Sir Trevor Chinn, £10,000
15th February 2017, Sir Trevor Chinn, £5,000
27th June 2016, Sir Trevor Chinn, £5,000
2nd December 2015, Sir Trevor Chinn, £5,000
26th June 2015, Sir Trevor Chinn, £1,475
Total £51,475

10th April 2019, Sir David Garrard, £10,000
30th August 2018, Sir David Garrard, £15,000
25th April 2017, Sir David Garrard, £15,000
Total £40,000

14th November 2016, Labour Friends of Israel, £4,875 (trip to Israel)

Sir Trevor Chinn is a Vice President of the Jewish Leadership Council (see below). From 1973 to 1993 he was Chairman of Joint Israel Appeal (now United Jewish Israel Appeal – UJIA), the major fund-raising organisation for Israel. Since 1993 he has been President of the UJIA.

Sir David Garrard has for years been a major financial backer of Labour Friends of Israel, and was recently appointed to its board. Under Blair, Brown and Milliband he donated almost $2 million to Labour. Upon Corbyn’s election in 2015, he called in a loan of more than $2.5 million he had made to the party.

Labour Friends of Israel is … well, why not find out all about them here …

The Jewish Leadership Council has blasted Corbyn’s ‘tolerance of antisemitism’, far too often for me to list. Try Letter to Jeremy and the mini documentary, Enough is Enough.

* * *

 

3 Replies to “Tom Watson: follow the money

  1. In the light of this:

    https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1Id8-6f6cB4G3S79KI9pWG6ji2H3nlAyt&ll=53.300311850069214%2C-1.567474809620876&z=9

    amongst at least one other (Twitter) list I hav been made aware of….

    …..One is moved to observe that in the current climate facts, including facts which might be considered by some to be somewhat inconvenient, are not immune from being classified and denounced as falling foul of subjective self defined opinion (if you catch my drift) along with those who might draw attention to them.

    The way things are going it’s not difficult to see a bright future for any company getting in on the ground floor with a modern (possibly even portable?) version of the Anderson Shelter. But that’s probably only me being a tad cynical?

    • When I zoom out, Dave, I see to my immense relief that antisemitism is pretty much confined to this sceptered isle. All the time I’d been thinking Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic States seething with antisemitism of the kind that kills – as opposed to the kind that expresses the mildest rebuke of Israel – it turns out I was wrong. Those places are whiter than the driven snow on this matter.

      You have to wonder at the mindset of those who put out this garbage. Are they utter cynics or useful idiots?

      • Steel City Scribe, you are wrong on the facts. The ADF rate us low on a score. I’d say their figure has been inflated by anti- Corbyn activists since he became leader. Much of it due to the BBC covering it spuriously since March of last year.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *