Tom Watson tops a hit-list of high-profile scalps Tories hope to claim at next general election
TOM Watson tops a hit-list of high profile scalps the Tories hope to claim at the next general election.
Party bosses believe Labour’s troubled deputy leader is vulnerable and they have a good chance of winning his seat.
He is defending a 7,713 majority in what would normally be regarded as a safe seat of West Bromwich East.
But he is now the Conservatives’ top target in a secret “decapitation” strategy drawn up by election planners.
They believe Mr Watson is there for the taking as a mountain of problems pile up for him and aim to flood his constituency with campaigners.
His credibility has been dented by his vocal support for the VIP sex claims against prominent politicians by fantasist Carl Beech, which have since been exposed as fabricated.
He is at war with hard-Left supporters of Jeremy Corbyn who tried to remove him in an attempted coup which he described as a “drive-by shooting”. Tories believe he may struggle to get activists to turn out for him.
Mr Watson’s demands for a second referendum has also put him at odds with many voters in his constituency where about 70 per cent voted Leave.
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And his fight for re-election will be further hampered by news that ex-MP George Galloway, booted out of the Labour party in 2003, will stand against him as an independent on a pro-Brexit platform.
A senior Tory source said: “The West Midlands is key to winning the next general election and we have 10 seats in our sights. We’ll need to win them all if we are to form a majority government and Tom Watson is top of our list.
“We’ll be sending all the big guns into these areas, especially Tom Watson’s constituency, which we believe is within our grasp.”
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