Tom Watson calls on anonymous Shadow Cabinet briefers to resign

Tom Watson has called on Shadow Cabinet members who anonymously brief their dissatisfaction about the Labour leadership to keep quiet, or follow him to the backbenches.

In an interview with the New Statesman, Watson slams negative briefers as “cowardly”, saying:

“The frustrating thing is that there have been some shadow cabinet members who have briefed off the record and said some critical things about Ed. That’s the most cowardly thing in the world. If they feel very strongly about things, go to the back benches and speak out – that’s what I did. Don’t use the cover of anonymity to make attacks on a leader.”

Watson resigned in July last year, saying that he wanted to “speak out in areas of personal interest”.

There are a couple of more surprising comments from the interview. Watson joins Len McCluskey and John Prescott in calling for the return of Alan Johnson to frontline politics, praising him as someone who “could be really effective as we go up to polling day.” Watson is good friends with McCluskey – could there be some coordination here?

He also gave his support to a post-election coalition with the Lib Dems if the circumstances require – but not if it means working with Nick Clegg, saying it would be “almost impossible” to get the “political permission” to share a government with the current Deputy Prime Minister.

The biggest shock, however, may be that Watson feels sorry for Andy Coulson “on a personal level”, following Coulson’s conviction for phone hacking.