How Tom Watson MP rediscovered his inner rebel

Tom Watson is the Labour MP for West Bromwich East and was a Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office until he resigned in 2009. Tom was the first MP to start a blog, he’s an active campaigner on digital media (he spoke out against the Digital Economy bill) and is one of the most prolific politicians on Twitter.

Tom recently read my book ‘Juggle! Rethink Work, Reclaim Your Life’ and has just posted a review on his blog (that you can read in full here). ‘Juggle!’ encourages readers to reframe their work lives around their passions, staying authentic to their dna. Tom reviewed his personal interests and political priorities and found they had been wedged apart by the conflicting demands of parliamentary life. So ‘Juggle!’ forced a rethink:

“I’m fascinated by the capacity of the Internet to change lives and bring down empires. I’ve had a lifelong love of video games since first spinning a 10p coin into a Space Invaders machine at the Silver Blades ice rink in Birmingham on a school trip. And the government – the one that I had been a minister in, were doing something crass to the digital world in a last minute stitch up with the Conservatives. In the spirit of the juggle I rebelled and focused on a policy area I enjoyed and believed in. Now I’m inundated with offers to talk and write about the policy area I love. So thanks Ian.  You helped me rediscover the inner rebel and life is good”

Thanks Tom. Rediscovering the inner rebel is always a good thing…

( picture of Tom Watson by Benjamin Ellis)