Ex-Labour Deputy Leader Tom Watson steps down suddenly from renewable energy group’s Board
Martin Shipton
Former Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Lord Tom Watson has unexpectedly stepped down as a Board member of the parent company of renewable energy firms that want to build networks of wind turbines and electricity transmission across mid Wales.
The Bute Energy and Green Gen Cymru projects have proven highly controversial and have attracted much local opposition.
Insiders told how Lord Watson had been contributing to strategic discussions as recently as last week, with no hint that he was about to leave.
But filings to Companies House show that he resigned as a non-executive director of Windward Energy on September 10 and of sister company Windward Enterprises on the same day.
The peer had joined the board of Windward Energy on September 17 and the board of Windward Enterprises on June 1 2026.
A spokesperson for Windward Energy said: “We can confirm that Tom Watson has stepped down from the Boards of Windward Energy and Windward Enterprises. Following his successful recovery from prostate cancer, Tom has expressed his interest in reprioritising his efforts to focus on the country’s fight for better health and against cancer, particularly prostate cancer which affects on in eight men.”
We had asked Windward for a statement about why Lord Watson was no longer a director of Windward Energy and whether his departure was voluntary or involuntary.
We also asked whether he had increased his commitment to other projects, and if so what they were.
Lord Watson has also resigned from the advisory council to Lodestone Communications, a public relations firm contracted to the Windward group that specialises in reputational management.
We sought comment from Lord Watson, but he did not respond to our message.
Tom Watson was the Labour MP for West Bromwich East from 2001 to 2019. He held ministerial roles under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and became known for exposing the News International phone-hacking scandal, leading to the Leveson Inquiry.
His career included tensions with Labour leadership and controversy over his role in the Operation Midland investigation, a criminal investigation carried out by the London Metropolitan Police between November 2014 and March 2016 in response to false allegations of historic child abuse made by Carl Beech.
The operation focused on investigation of several high-profile British citizens—politicians, military officers and heads of security—over claims of historic child sexual abuse and murder.
The 18-month operation found no evidence to support the claims, and an inquiry into the police investigation afterwards concluded that the people involved had been falsely accused, leaving them dealing with considerable damage to their lives and reputations.
Errors
A report of the inquiry’s findings found that detectives and officers within the operation’s taskforce had committed several errors during the course of their work, and made calls for more effective checks on allegations and accountability by police. Watson later apologised for giving credibility to the false allegations.
He served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2019, at a time when Jeremy Corbyn was the party’s Leader. The two men had a fractious relationship, with Watson being accused of seeking to undermine Corbyn.
Elevated to the peerage in 2022, he has since engaged in advocacy roles, including chairing UK Music.
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