John mcdonnell

John Stuart Mill is usually credited as the person who first called the Conservatives ‘the stupid party’, but that isn’t quite accurate. Rather, he referred to the Tories as the stupidest party, and he didn’t mean that it was more stupid than every other party in the country, just the Liberals. If you substitute the Lib Dems for the Liberal party, that probably isn’t true any more, and it certainly isn’t true if you include Labour in the mix. No, I think there is now a strong case for passing the crown to Jeremy Corbyn’s party. If you look at Labour’s leaders, this is a very recent development. Harold Wilson

One of the complaints that allies of Jeremy Corbyn often issue is that his critics – whether in his own party, the media, the Tory party or the general electorate – tend to focus on the man, not his policies. His policies are, those allies argue, actually very popular with voters — when you test them without mentioning either Labour or Jeremy Corbyn. Which seems to be proving rather difficult in this election. There are two problems with this. The first is that voters don’t give a fig about your wonderful policies if they don’t trust your party’s leader to be competent enough to enact them. Every Labour MP I

It would be easy to dismiss Jeremy Corbyn’s launch of the Labour party’s election campaign this week on the grounds that hardly anyone believes he has the slightest chance of becoming prime minister. But given that David Cameron was given a 0.5 per cent chance of winning a majority, and Donald Trump a 1 per cent chance of the presidency, it would be foolish not to take the main opposition party seriously. At the very least, Corbyn’s ideas need to be examined in order to understand why Labour finds itself in the position it does, and why no party leader to the left of Tony Blair has won a general election

The crapness of Corbyn’s Labour is a phenomenon. It fascinates me. Frankly, it does my head in. For there is a theory, you see, that Corbyn’s Labour isn’t really crap at all. That it is all a conspiracy. That journalists such as me, who I suspect are ‘neoliberal’ or something, merely construct a narrative demonising it as such. Where politicians match our prejudices, this theory goes, we give them enormous leeway and spring to their defence. When they don’t, we supposedly deem them ‘mad’ or ‘radical’ or, yes, ‘crap’, in a spirit of sheer defensiveness. It’s a neat theory, this, and very occasionally I even find myself wondering if it

Theresa May – Conservatives will not raise VAT Touring both the BBC and ITV studios today, Theresa May tried her best to avoid giving specific answers about the Conservatives tax policies after the election. However, during an interview with Robert Peston, the Prime Minister appeared to disown David Cameron’s ‘triple lock’ and make a commitment that a Conservative government would not raise the level of VAT above 20% over the next Parliament: Peston: Given what you say your record as a party is on taxes, do you need to repeat David Cameron’s triple lock – no rise in VAT, no rise in National Insurance, no rise in income tax –

What does it mean to be rich? That’s the question already getting the Labour party into a tangle as it struggles to get its act together ahead of the snap general election. Yesterday, John McDonnell said a Labour government would send a higher tax bill the way of all workers earning over £70,000. The shadow chancellor said simply that those earning more than that amount were ‘rich’ and should ‘pay their way more’. A straightforward policy, you might think. But today, it seems, there is already confusion in the ranks. Emily Thornberry on the Today programme aimed her fire at the ‘elite’ – doing her best to define this group

Last night Jeremy Corbyn gathered with thousands of supporters on Parliament Square to protest against the government’s failure to guarantee the rights of EU migrants in the UK. Upon hearing the chants of ‘Say it loud, say it clear – all EU migrants welcome here!’ Theresa May performed a sensational U-turn. Britain now has an open doors policy to anyone with a pulse and a dream. Or so might have been the case, had Jeremy Corbyn bothered to turn up to his own rally. Instead, a motley rabble of speakers from such august institutions as Stop the War, the Socialist Workers Party, and the National Union of Students, preached to

As part of John McDonnell’s recent ‘tea offensive‘ to reach out and offer an olive branch to politicians on all sides of the Labour party, the shadow chancellor has invited both Peter Mandelson and Tony Blair for a cuppa. Alas, extending the hand of friendship to New Labour grandees is proving costly when it comes to McDonnell’s comrades on the Left. Step forward George Galloway. The former Labour MP — who was expelled from the party in 2003 — has previously been supportive of the Corbyn regime. Alas, in light of McDonnell’s gesture, he has taken to social media to let be known his dismay at the ‘profoundly ill-advised’ offer: Given

Ahead of his budget announcement this week, Philip Hammond has told Andrew Marr that the UK may continue to face EU contributions after Brexit, though he dismissed claims of a £60bn divorce fee as ‘a piece of negotiating strategy’. The Chancellor looked relaxed as he shrugged off the potential failure of a trade deal with the EU, stating simply that ‘we will forge new trade deals around the world’. In a typically uncharismatic performance, Hammond also poured cold water on the Resolution Foundation’s findings that the so-called ‘just about managing’ are going to be severely squeezed over the next three years. ‘I don’t recognise these numbers,’ he said, ‘various bodies publish various numbers,

What is Labour’s priority at the moment? Normally the sensible answer for an Opposition party would be that it needs to focus on policy, and particularly on talking about next week’s Budget. But it is very difficult for a party polling so far behind the one in government and that is so divided to have much authority when it criticises ministers on policy. So when John McDonnell gave his pre-Budget speech today, his focus couldn’t just be on what he expects Philip Hammond to get up to and what Labour would want from the forthcoming economic statement. The speech itself wasn’t about Labour’s divisions, of course: McDonnell set out plans

Labour’s defeat in Copeland is nothing short of a disaster – but you won’t hear that from the shadow chancellor. Instead, John McDonnell said the fact that the Tories snatched away the seat – becoming the first Government to win a by-election since the 1980s – was a ‘disappointment’. His biggest concession to those who say this result shows it’s time for Corbyn to go was to admit there are ‘mixed views’ on the Labour leader. So if it isn’t Corbyn’s fault, who is to blame? McDonnell offered several answers to that question. He said that the ‘macho leaders we’ve had in the past’ were responsible for some of the

Since Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour leader, the party has struggled when it comes to forging a positive relationship with the MSM (mainstream media). Right wing press aside, Corbyn has taken issue with coverage from the BBC, New Statesman, The Guardian, the Mirror and Channel Four. However, are times a-changin’? Last night journalists were welcomed into the Leader’s Office for Corbyn’s Christmas drinks. True to form, Corbyn stayed on brand — using a box Chilcot Reports as a handy door stopper. However, in a sign that he is willing to compromise in order to appeal to the masses, the vegetarian lay on a spread of chicken legs and pork pies for hungry hacks.

On Thursday night, John McDonnell had to pull out of an appearance on Question Time — alongside David Gauke, Tim Farron, Mariana Mazzucato and John Timpson — after coming down with the flu. Happily, his Labour comrade Chris Leslie — a former shadow chancellor — was on hand to step up to the plate at the last minute and take the vacant spot. Here's this week's full #BBCQT panel – join us at 10.45pm this Thursday, BBC One@DavidGauke @johnmcdonnellMP @timfarron @MazzucatoM pic.twitter.com/Mak9hu5Eun — BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) November 23, 2016 So, surely John McDonnell and his team were just delighted that Labour was still represented on the primetime show? Well, perhaps not. Mr

As Labour struggle to be relevant, Rebecca Long-Bailey — the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury — managed to secure a prime spot in the BBC’s coverage of the Autumn Statement. Alas, brains at Labour may now be wishing she’d given the interview a miss. Long-Bailey appeared flustered as Andrew Neil asked her several questions about her own party’s economic position — and how it related to the rest of the world. AN: What other government does balance the books around the western world? RLB: I think it’s difficult to pin point particular governments that have a zero per cent deficit… AN: Germany is one. Things then took a turn for

This morning’s Marr show was something of a financial matter, with the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell sharing the sofa. As Andrew Marr pointed out, having the pair of Chancellors share a sofa is a ‘great tradition’, but one that had a stop put to it when George Osborne was in charge. Now the tradition has come back – but it this morning’s performance might be a good example of why Osborne chose to put a stop to it in the first place. The general consensus seems to be that McDonnell came out on top – with commenters saying that he ran rings around Hammond. Naturally, lots

Spare a thought for John McDonnell. The shadow chancellor was up and about early this morning to criticise Theresa May on the airwaves for her stance on Brexit. But while McDonnell was eager to get his message across, Mr S wonders whether he might have forgotten something before he left the house. It seems by the time he got around to delivering his actual speech this morning, it was breakfast, rather than Brexit, which was on his mind. Here’s what he said: ‘The Government is hurtling towards a chaotic breakfast that will damage our economy and hurt the poorest and most vulnerable most of all.’ Still, at least McDonnell can console himself

It’s been a long day for John McDonnell. On top of making his conference speech, the Shadow Chancellor has spoken at fringe events and given several interviews. So, perhaps that’s why his appearance on Monday’s Newsnight didn’t go quite to plan. In the interview with Evan Davis, McDonnell failed to shine as he put forward a rather confused vision for his party. Although he insisted that Labour were ready to govern, he also admitted that the party was not in a position to share its policy on tax — instead saying it should remain ‘roughly the same as it is’ — immigration or Trident. When it was pointed out to McDonnell