Given few knew who Jeremy Corbyn was before the summer, chances are that few will know who John McDonnell is either. Well, here’s your quick guide.
He was first elected in 1997, having previously served on the Greater London Council as member for Hayes and Harlington (the constituency he represents in Parliament). He is chair of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs, and worked as a researcher and official for the National Union of Mineworkers and the TUC.
And here’s what else you need to know about the new Shadow Chancellor:
1. John McDonnell is quite the Commons performer.
He famously grabbed the mace in the Chamber to express his outrage at the decision to approve a new runway at Heathrow – and was suspended from the Commons.
2. John McDonnell has some fruity rhetoric.
He said he would ‘swim through vomit’ to oppose the Welfare Reform Bill – so at least we now know where the party stands on this piece of legislation.
3.
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Rachel Reeves has found brief respite this morning, with the Office for National Statistics confirming that inflation dipped to 2.5 per cent in the 12 months to December, down from 2.6 per cent the month before. This is a smaller rise than had been expected (the consensus was 2.6 per cent) and roughly in line
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