Referendum now: Tom Watson backs Tory rebels calling for early EU vote

When Tom Watson left the Labour frontbench, he was fulsome in praise (in the correct sense of the phrase) for his leader. But since then, he’s not exactly been trying that hard to keep Ed Miliband in a state of zen-like calm. He told the Marr Show this morning that he would support Adam Afriyie’s troublemaking amendment to the EU referendum bill:

‘I don’t want to add to the PM’s panic but I will probably be supporting Adam Afriyie with his amendments so… I think there are a lot of people on both sides of the House who think we need clarity on this now. And the country has asked for it for a long time, business is saying that there is a lot of uncertainty, and you know, parties have got to draw up their manifestos for the 2015 general election. And they will be very different depending on the outcome of a referendum, so it strikes me that we’ve got European elections next year in 2014… well he’s kept his options open, he’s said that he can take that decision at a later date but I just don’t know it would be down to him and Douglas Alexander but now I’m on the backbenches I think I might support Adam.’