Tom Watson calls for MPs to respect Corbyn’s mandate

Tom Watson has called on Labour MPs to respect Jeremy Corbyn’s mandate and give him time to “lay out his stall”.

Watson was elected deputy leader of the Labour party last Saturday and Corbyn won Labour’s leadership contest with 59.5% of the vote.

Watson said he recognised there was “bound to be a bit of turbulence” as Corbyn set out his agenda. But speaking on BBC Radio 4 he asked his fellow MPs to respect the mandate of Labour’s new leader.

“I would just say to those MPs that are saying things on the record and off the record, please respect the mandate he has been given. Give him a bit of space and time to lay out his stall. We have got a party conference next week, we have got a shadow cabinet and an NEC meeting this Thursday.

“It will take time but you will see a change of direction and you will be able to see what Jeremy Corbyn really stands for,” he said.

This comes following Shadow Justice Secretary Lord Falconer’s comments on Syria at the weekend. He said that if there was legal and military justification he would support a bombing campaign in Syria, despite Corbyn’s opposition to these proposals.

Falconer made these comments after shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn told Andrew Marr that he wouldn’t rule out military intervention. He also said he supported Trident renewal  – a policy Corbyn is opposed to – arguing that Britain needs to “maintain an independent nuclear deterrent.”

Stephen Kinnock, newly elected MP for Aberavon has also called for unity. He said “What we need very soon is cohesion. Cohesion is crucial for credibility. That has to happen.”

During the interview, Watson also denied that any Labour MPs would defect to the Lib Dems, saying that it would be like “leaving the Beatles to join a Bananarama tribute band”.