Tom Watson: Former Labour deputy leader and peer announces cancer has returned
Former Labor deputy leader Lord Tom Watson has announced he has taken leave from the House of Lords following the recurrence of his cancer.
His Labor colleague was first diagnosed with non-aggressive prostate cancer in March 2023 and everything went well for him thereafter.
But the former minister, who served under both Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, revealed in a post on Substack on Friday that he had been informed earlier this year that the disease had returned.
While initial tests suggest this second bout of cancer has “passed”, Lord Watson is scheduled to undergo further checks later this summer.
His announcement comes as the government recently recommended against a population-wide prostate cancer screening programme, recommending instead that only “a few thousand” high-risk men be tested.
Lord Watson, who previously resigned from the ministry under Sir Tony Blair, also detailed his renewed struggle with weight in his Substack post.
He had previously lost more than 125 kilos but admitted to gaining weight again in recent years after stopping exercise following his initial diagnosis. He stated that his busy schedule in the House of Lords, along with renovating a house, contributed to “more than 1,000 days of drift and denial”.
Lord Watson said that he had previously used the weight loss drug Mounjaro but gained weight again. He said he quit drinking, exercised more and changed his diet.
The former MP for West Bromwich East wrote: “I knew the weight was increasing because my clothes no longer fit me. “I didn’t know how overweight I was because the toxin of denial was flowing through my veins again.
“Today’s transgression would always be compensated for on another day, at some undefined time, in some future that was somehow both inevitable and never planned. Weight, blood pressure, and blood sugar were the only things I was strong enough to keep up.”
She continued: “Not only am I obese again, but the cancer also returned earlier this year. Is it weird to say that this was the wake-up call I needed to choose life again? Maybe so. But it’s true.”
“This time, I knew I had to build life around health again. It shouldn’t bolt on it. It shouldn’t be cramped by work, travel, stress, email, politics, family, deadlines, and everything else left after the general manager of survival. I needed to put health at the center and let everything else be organized around it.”
He added: “That’s why I got permission from the House of Lords for treatment and recovery.
“Early tests show the cancer is gone, but I won’t know for sure until new tests come in the summer. Despite the uncertainty, I feel fine. Chipper, actually.”
Earlier this year Lord Watson tabled a bill in the House of Lords that would allow pubs to remain open later for events of “national importance”, including international football finals.
