After Guido reported Tom Watson had spoken with the source of the Whittingdale dominatrix revelations “in detail” prior to publication, Watson felt the need to distance himself. First Robert Peston was briefed that Watson had told the Sunday People not to publish. Then he went on the record:

“I was very clear that he had a right to privacy and that as far as I could see there was no public interest in the story, although it was not for me to decide.”

Is this the whole truth?

Natalie Rowe, the story’s original source who spoke with Watson, says otherwise. In response to the above quote, Rowe claims Watson privately took a very different view:

Curiously Rowe then says she has been “advised” not to talk about Watson. She goes on to accuse him of “lies“.

Surely Watson couldn’t have had more involvement than he let on…

It’s not like he fell out with Whittingdale after their run ins on the CMS committee. Or that Rowe’s story ended up on Byline, a site with which Watson is friendly. How odd that the recollection of Labour’s deputy leader differs so significantly from that of the source…

Who is behind the John Whittingdale story? For the last two years Natalie Rowe, the prostitute who made the infamous coke and bondage allegations about George Osborne, has been tweeting excitably about Whitto’s relationship with a dominatrix. Her allegations, including the pictures she tweeted of Whitto and his former partner, eventually found their way onto the eccentric Byline website. Yet well before the revelations broke, Rowe had a long phone call with Tom Watson where they discussed “in detail” her story about Whittingdale:

tom_watson Why are you not using your Parliamentary Privilege in relation to John Whittingdale, we spoke in detail on the phone – USE IT

— Natalie Rowe (@RealNatalieRowe) July 11, 2014

Natalie was frustrated with Watson’s apparent failure to get the story going. Conveniently, it eventually ended up on Byline, whose writers Watson is very friendly with. Whitto and Watson of course have history after they sat on the Culture, Media and Sport committee together back during the hacking scandal. Ironic that Watson, a man who previously had a keen interest in keeping his personal life out of the press, was so interested in the private relationships of a political enemy…

UPDATE: Peston is briefed that Watson warned the Sunday People against running the story. So Watson did have behind the scenes discussions with both the source and the press…