Campaigning Labour MP Tom Watson has made headlines and headway with his campaign against fixed-odds gambling machines, which he describes as “the crack cocaine of gambling”. He has written a series of blistering attacks on the Government for its complacency on the issue over the past few weeks.
So it came as something of a surprise to Westminster-watchers when Watson last night cast his vote with the Government on the issue. Rather than voting for the Labour motion demanding regulation, which he’d been instrumental in drafting, Watson instead lent his support to inaction.
“I voted the wrong way by accident,” the embarrassed MP told the Londoner before adding, “I’d bet my bottom dollar the gambling industry are praying I’ll be as absent-minded in the future. I won’t be.”
