The Labour leadership hopeful lambasted the former Labour deputy leader following his decision to leave the party as he claimed his career had become “unsustainable”. Ms Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary hoping to succeed Jeremy Corbyn, revealed Mr Watson was guilty of the same “brutality and hostility” he now accuses his colleagues of in the lead up to his decision to leave.
She told ITV Good Morning Britain: “When I was first elected and I didn’t agree with Blair about incarcerating people for 90 days without any evidence and I was voting against the 90-days detention, I remember going into the lobby and I was a new MP and Tom Watson said that I was a traitor.
“These things are brutal and people do get very passionate.
“But sometimes it is used as an excuse for completely unacceptable behaviour.”
In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, Mr Watson said conditions within the party were partly responsible for making his political career unsustainable.
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He said: “The point is that the brutality and hostility are real and it’s day to day.
“So I just thought, now’s the time to take a leap, do something different. You’ve had a good inning. You’ve done good stuff. Go now.”
Mr Watson told the paper that a Labour supporter had been arrested for making a death threat through the party, but that party officials had not informed him about it.
And he revealed that he gave his backing to former MP Owen Smith when he challenged Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership in 2016.
“I will discuss with our party to ensure there is a process now of reflection on this result and on the policies that the party will take going forward.
“And I will lead the party during that period to ensure that discussion takes place and we move on into the future.”
Mr Corbyn also defended putting forward a “manifesto of hope” that would help wrong the injustices and inequalities gripping the nation and tackle the climate crisis.
Meanwhile, the race for the Labour leadership heated up last week after two Remain-backing candidates hinted they could put their names forward for the top two jobs.
Tottenham MP David Lammy gave the clearest indication yet that he was mulling entering the contest to replace Mr Corbyn as leader.
And Tooting MP Rosena Allin-Khan confirmed in an interview with the Sunday Times that she was considering entering the race for deputy leader.