Tom Watson has managed to slide seamlessly from one political position to another over the course of his career, generally following the direction of the prevailing wind. He started out “respecting the result” of the vote to leave the European Union, before becoming one of the leaders of the campaign for a second referendum. He stood as Jeremy Corbyn’s deputy leader in 2015, before becoming one of the most vocal critics of Corbynism. Once a proponent of tougher limits on the gambling industry, he went on to take a paid position with Flutter Entertainment, owner of Paddy Power, Betfair and Sky Bet, where he said he would be advising it on tackling problem gambling.
Now Watson has taken a senior role at Palantir, the highly controversial US tech firm at the centre of the US surveillance state. Watson says he has been hired to “correct false information” about Palantir. In other words, he’ll be hitting back at critics of the company’s contracts with the UK public sector.
Here’s what the critics have to say. It’s a lot.