Tom Watson has launched an astonishing attack on the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson, writing that he was too busy "kissing Andy Coulson's arse" to investigate the News of the World phone hacking scandal.
In a blog explaining his reasons not to join Monday's society of editors conference, the Labour MP and member of the culture select committee says that he is busy dealing with the fall-out of revelations that every single member of the parliamentary committee investigating phone hacking may have bee followed for three days by private investigators and staff. Watson writes:
Under the circumstances, I have to spend the day seeking advice from the Speaker and discussing the matter with fellow members of the DCMS Select Committee as to our legal and constitutional position.
And in a pot-shot at the BBC, he adds:
I would also have taken a pot shot at Lord Patten’s lugubrious speech justifying the BBC not being able to adequately investigate the phone hacking scandal. The DCMS committee published a report that found Rupert Murdoch’s executives guilty of “collective amnesia”. We found it “inconceivable” that others were not involved in hacking. Where was Nick Robinson, the most powerful political editor in the land, during this period? Kissing Andy Coulson’s arse.