Tom Watson is not on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's strategy committee

Tom Watson: I am not on his strategy committee.

Alastair Campbell: Who is then?

I don’t know.

What? That’s incredible.

That is how he is going to lead. That second election means he is the established leader. I am in the NEC (Labour's National Executive Committee) and in the shadow cabinet but nobody should be in any doubt it will be his manifesto. He will lead in developing those policies and I will support him...

Tom Watson thinks Jeremy Corbyn will lead the party at the next election

© PA

Is it settled Corbyn will lead the party at the next election?

Yes.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

It doesn’t matter; that is the situation. I made my position clear, gave private counsel, based on the fact it was difficult to lead without the confidence of a majority of MPs, but he took a different view, the membership backed him and we have to respect that.

Tom Watson on Leveson and Rupert Murdoch

© PA

“I am rarely generous to Murdoch but I think it fair to say a News Corp title would not hack phones in the future... I couldn’t put hand on heart and say they would never do something egregious, but I do think there has been some, limited progress. There must be a proper independent self-regulator. IPSO is just the PCC again, toothless."

Want more? Get the latest issue of British GQ

Subscribe now to get 6 issues of GQ for only £15, including free access to the interactive iPad and iPhone editions. Alternatively, choose from one of our fantastic digital-only offers, available across all devices.