Tom watson biography family band

What do you think is the single most important quality in a good politician?

Kindness.

You are very much a party man – until recently you were Labour’s co-ordinator for the next general election – but you’re better known as a campaigner, digging for the truth first about phone-hacking and then about allegations of abuse in British children’s homes. Is there a tension between those two very different roles?

I think the tension is between being part of a movement that at its heart has [a sense of] collective responsibility and the increasing demand in politics for charismatic individuals who will take up causes they believe in. Obviously, sometimes the two come into conflict.

Is there a conflict between being a man who ‘speaks truth to power’ and working to get your party back into power? After all, Labour has not always been squeaky-clean itself.

‘Conflict’ is probably too harsh a word. There are tensions, I would say. Drones would be an example, in that I’ve got quite strong views about what I see as the next iteration of military technology falling through the gaps in the framework of international law and I want the Labour Party to do something about it; and at the moment we’re being a bit slow.

It was pretty hard for me in the Shadow Cabinet because as the party’s campaign co-ordinator [from 2011 to 2013] I didn’t have any policy brief and so if I took a view on any area of policy I was probably standing on someone’s toes. But political parties are cauldrons of ideas and people battle away to try and win the argument and that’s how our democracy works.

When you first went into politics, which hat did you see yourself wearing: party man or campaigner?

Well, neither, really. I mean, I joined the Labour Party at the age of 15 because I believed it was going to change the world, and make the town I lived in a fairer place and give its people a better break. I never had a sense of self within that. I didn’t know what I was going

American musician (born 1962)

Musical artist

Tom Watson (born 1962) is an American musician known for playing guitar with Slovenly,Red Krayola, and Mike Watt + The Missingmen

Career

Born in 1962 in New York City, Watson's father was an illustrator and his mother was a theater actor. After first grade, Watson's family moved to Manhattan Beach, California. While attending Mira Costa High School, he met Steve Anderson, Scott Ziegler, and drummer Bruce Losson who were in a band called the Convalescents. When the bass player left, Watson joined and the band name was changed to Toxic Shock.

The band played their first gig as Toxic Shock with Minutemen and Saccharine Trust which led to an invitation from the Urinals to contribute a track to the Keats Rides A Harley compilation album by Happy Squid Records. After they all graduated, they formed Slovenly and continued to gig with Minutemen which led to releasing their first albums on Mike Watt's New Alliance Records label. After Slovenly broke up in 1992, Watson joined Red Krayola.

Since then, Watson has joined Watt as one of The Missingmen and he occasionally performs with Watt as The Jom and Terry Show which consists of Watson from The Missingmen and Jerry Trebotic from Mike Watt and the Secondmen. As a member of The Missingmen, Watson performed on Lou Barlow's Sentridoh III album.

In 2000, Watson performed with Vinny Golia, Mark Trayle, and drummer Vince Meghrouni at Society for the Activation of Social Space through Art and Sound.

With The Chance Band, Watson provided musical accompaniment to Jean Baudrillard's poetry for the album Suicide Moi.

Watson joined Emil Amos and Steve Shelley as "Tom Watson and His Clients"

American golfer

Thomas Sturges Watson (born September 4, 1949) is an American golfer. In the 1970s and 1980s, Watson was one of the leading golfers in the world, winning eight major championships and heading the PGA Tour money list five times. He was the number one player in the world according to Mc