The new shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, told us to expect him to sound like a mild bank manager when he gave his speech today. He ended up sounding like he was auditioning for the remake of Citizen Smith. How many bank managers end their speech by actually scripting a Wolfie-style yawp of ‘Solidarity!’? Perhaps this is all mild and relatively sane by McDonnell’s standards: if so, it offers us an interesting glimpse of the madness which now has the Labour party in its grip.
His speech was supposed to be all nuance, policy reviews and open debate but strip that away and you’re left with some of the most deranged, dangerous nonsense ever spouted from the floor of a Labour party conference. I was never a fan of Ed Balls, but he understood the art of economic combat better than anyone in the Commons and knew that Labour had to win an election.
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