Tom Watson has backed Max Mosley and hinted he will continue to accept money from the former fascist, telling the Mail: “The views expressed by Max as a young man are not the views he holds now, just as the Rothermere family no longer uses its newspapers to support fascism”. You know you’re in trouble when you’re reaching for the tired Rothermere line like some tedious Twitter troll…

Let’s have a look at Watson’s claim that Mosley no longer holds dodgy views. Asked by Cathy Newman whether he still believes “coloured immigrants” should be repatriated, Mosley said that is “now completely academic” and “no longer a possible question”.

Asked if it was racist to say immigrants bring diseases to Britain, Mosley replied to Cathy: “I don’t know about racist”.

Asked if he thought he should say sorry, Mosley snapped: “I’ve no reason to apologise to anyone”.

Mosley then went on to defend the fascist Walter Hesketh, telling Cathy he was “a very decent person as far as I was concerned, I thought he was then and I think he is now”. Hesketh is on record saying: “If enough people vote for me… the government will be sending coloured immigrants home” and “To stop coloured immigration, vote Hesketh”. Mosley says he still thinks Hesketh is a “very decent person” now…

This all makes a mockery of Watson’s claim that Mosley’s views have changed and it is now somehow acceptable to take his cash. If a Tory had £500,000 off a former fascist who clearly still holds problematic views then Watson and Labour would be screaming the house down. Labour’s deputy leader is happy to take half a million quid from a former fascist who still thinks out-and-out racist Walter Hesketh was a “very decent person”…