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 proved 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 2024 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 one 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.

In addition to the statement issued by Windward Energy about Lord Watson’s departure, background briefing notes about how to handle media enquiries about the matter have also been leaked to us.

The notes state: “Summary: as of last Friday, Tom stood down as a non-executive board member for both Windward Energy and Windward Enterprises, for reasons outlined in the comms below.

“Worth noting: although it’s not in the comms, we’re likely to keep some form of input from Tom, just not on the board. The exact shape is still to be agreed. Separately, the change has been updated on Companies House; it’s taken a bit of time to agree the comms, for a number of reasons.

“Re press office: our agency Aspect is managing on that front. If you do get any press enquiries, please pass them on to me and I’ll manage with Aspect (Leona leads).

“For the external affairs teams: we’ve let them know that you’re managing stakeho;lder responses and Aspect is press office, and that the response below is reactive only, for enquiries, not for proactive use.”

Statement

Below was the on-the-record statement quoted above.

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.

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.

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