10 2G M Thursday March 1 2018 | the times the times | Thursday March 1 2018 2G M 11 NewsNews Max Mosley NNewsews Pressure mounts on Watson to return Mosley’s £500,000 ERNEST ALLEN/DAILY MAIL/SOLO SYNDICATION; GETTY IMAGES; ANL/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK Henry Zeffman Political Reporter Times understands. When Mr Watson Oliver Wright Policy Editor was deputy chairman of the Labour Racism row Party and Mr Miliband’s elections co- Media companies Tom Watson is under growing pressure ordinator from 2011 to 2013, Mr Watson to return £500,000 to Max Mosley after told Mr Miliband that Mr Mosley was Jeremy Corbyn banned his deputy from upsets voters willing to give £5 million to the party. taking any more money from the press The offer, which was not accepted, may quit regulator reform campaigner. Neil Johnston came when Mr Watson and Mr Mosley It emerged this week that Mr Mosley, were vocal critics of newspapers’ be- a former Formula One boss, had his Tom Watson was facing a backlash haviour over phone hacking. Matthew Moore Media Correspondent and the donors who support our work. name listed as publisher of a racist cam- from voters in his constituency Mr Watson quit the post after a row Our code holds our publishers to high paign leaflet linking leprosy, venereal yesterday over his continued over a Labour Party selection in Fal- The state-recognised press regulator standards. Unlike Ipso, we prohibit disease and tuberculosis to “coloured support for Max Mosley. kirk. Last night the Labour deputy de- bankrolled by money from a Mosley racism and all forms of hate speech immigration” and calling for Jamaicans The deputy Labour leader has clined to comment about the prospec- family trust is facing a crisis as members against vulnerable groups.” to be sent home. accepted more than £500,000 in tive donation. Mr Mosley did not re- consider cutting ties over the racist Hacked Off, the press reform cam- The leaflet, published in 1961, was in donations from the former spond to a request for comment. leaflets scandal. paign group that Mr Mosley has sup- support of a candidate for his fascist Formula One boss and many Mr Mosley was at the centre of a Impress relies for day-to-day funding ported, said it was not aware of receiv- father Sir Oswald Mosley’s Union constituents in West Bromwich Labour donations row in 1997 when he on an agreement to receive £3 million ing donations from the former Formula Movement in a by-election. East, where he has been the MP was president of Formula One’s gov- from a charity backed by a trust set up One boss. “Any allegations are a matter Mr Mosley had been questioned since 2001, said that they were erning body. Tony Blair decided to ex- in the name of Max Mosley’s son. for Mr Mosley,” a spokesman said. about the leaflet under oath during a unhappy about it. Mr Mosley is empt the sport from Labour’s ban on to- It was granted state recognition in Hacked Off demands that the gov- High Court privacy case against the alleged to have published a racist bacco advertising, but it emerged that 2016 but is responsible for only a few ernment pushes ahead with the second News of the World in 2008, telling the campaign pamphlet in the 1960s. his party had accepted £1 million from dozen small publications and websites. part of the Leveson inquiry, which court that he did not recall putting out About 30 per cent of Mr Bernie Ecclestone, the motor racing Most national and local newspapers threatens cost sanctions against news election literature urging voters to send Watson’s constituents are from chief. Mr Mosley had hosted Mr Blair at joined a rival regulator, the Independ- publishers that refuse to join a state- black people home. He also explicitly ethnic minorities and the area has Silverstone when he was opposition ent Press Standards Organisation recognised regulator. denied that any leaflets from the 1961 significant Indian, Bangladeshi leader and met him again at Downing (Ipso), out of principled objection to Ministers are expected to announce campaign accused immigrants of and Pakistani populations. Street to lobby against the tobacco ban. state involvement in press regulation. a decision soon — possibly today. The bringing leprosy, syphilis and TB, say- Daljit Singh, general secretary “The Labour Party has moved away A local publisher regulated by Im- government-established body that ap- ing: “That is absolute nonsense.” at the local Sikh Gurdwara, said from large-scale donations from press announced yesterday that it was proved the state recognition of Impress This week, after the leaflet emerged, that Mr Watson should hand back wealthy individuals,” Mr Corbyn’s reviewing its relationship with the body said that it had not received any new he told Channel 4 News he rejected the the money since it was taken from spokesman said yesterday. “I don’t be- over the allegations against Mr Mosley. complaints about the regulator. “offensive suggestion” that he lied someone who is alleged to have lieve that there will be any more pay- Martin Booth, the editor of Bristol The Press Recognition Panel was under oath, adding: “If it is genuine, it been racist. “This is not good at all, ments from Max Mosley to the Labour 24/7, an entertainment magazine, said: previously called upon to assess whe- doesn’t reflect my views today. This was not for anyone or for any Party or Tom Watson. The last pay- “The discovery of the electoral material ther Impress had breached its recogni- in 1961. I ceased to have any involve- community. Not for Sikhs or any ments were made last year.” from 1961 and Mosley’s subsequent de- tion criteria after Jonathan Heawood, ment in my father’s movement in 1963.” other religion.” The spokesman insisted the decision nial under oath of its existence make the regulator’s chief executive, abused Mr Mosley, 77, who has campaigned On the town’s high street, Sunny not to take more money from Mr Mos- me uncomfortable to belong to the reg- sections of the press online. for press reform since he successfully Kumar, 47, a sales assistant, said: ley was taken before the document ulatory body that he bankrolls. Mos- An internal Impress report found sued the News of the World in 2008, is “It’s wrong, he has to give it back.” came to light, and that all large dona- ley’s involvement with Impress is vague that Mr Heawood had compromised the main financial backer of Mr Wat- tions were being assessed over whether and I am considering whether Bristol the impartiality of the watchdog. The son, Labour’s deputy leader, who also they are “ethical or appropriate”. 24/7 should continue being a member.” panel failed to strip Impress of its status. favours state regulation of the press. son, the MP for West Bromwich East, The Conservative Party called for Mr Other publishers are understood to Impress is funded through a charity After the leaflet emerged, Mr Watson was given more than £40,000 by Mr Watson to return the £500,000 he has be considering their options. The orga- backed by the Alexander Mosley said: “My views on press regulation are Mosley, the largest sum from any donor received since 2016. James Cleverly, the nisation is under pressure to follow the Charitable Trust, set up by Mr Mosley well known and have not changed. The except Unite, the trade union, and 13 per party’s deputy chairman, said that Mr Labour Party and refuse to accept fur- in memory of his son who died of a drug views expressed by Max as a young cent of the total campaign funds. Since Watson “ must avoid the impression of ther funding from the Mosley family. overdose at the age of 39. man are not the views he holds now.” Mr Watson became deputy leader, Mr an unhealthy connection between La- The regulator declined to discuss its High Court judges found last Octo- Yesterday a spokesman for Mr Mosley has given him £500,000: bour’s position on press freedom and a funding plans last night. A spokes- ber that this funding arrangement did Corbyn attacked the views in the £200,000 in June 2016 and wealthy donor who may find himself woman said: “Impress is entirely inde- not give Mr Mosley influence over the leaflet as “utterly repugnant” and £300,000 in February last year, “to embarrassed by reporting on his past Max Mosley, right, and his brother Alex, with supporters of their father, disrupted a Tory rally in Islington in 1958; top, Max, aged 18 with Alex during the 1958 Notting Hill riots; Max with Sir Oswald in 1962 pendent of the publishers we regulate regulator or infringe its independence. vowed that neither Mr Watson support my office as deputy leader actions.” A Downing Street source said nor the Labour Party and shadow secretary of state for that the 1961 leaflet was “vile”. dream of using disaffected young men widely reported details about his sexual arrested after swinging a punch at a would take any more of digital, culture, media and sport”. Asked about Mr Mosley’s funding of to turn Britain to the far right. life. “Jewbaiting” fascist rally in a Jewish Police assess Family trust Mr Mosley’s dona- Mr Mosley was willing to Impress, the state-recognised press Privacy champion’s In the 1930s, Sir Oswald’s uniformed The Daily Mail reported yesterday quarter of London but insisted in court tions. give far more to Labour regulator, Theresa May said that the Blackshirt agitators, inspired by the that Mr Mosley published leaflets in a that he could not be described as a During his under Ed Miliband, The freedom of the press “will never Nazis, had been prevented by by-election in 1961 which blamed black fighting person.