Smiley, fluent and softly spoken, John McDonnell sometimes comes across as a bit cuddly. Yesterday Labour’s shadow chancellor was interviewed by Iain Dale at the Edinburgh festival. He said he’s looking forward to a boating trip on the Norfolk Broads. ‘My wife and I sail. But we sail badly. People get off the water when they see us coming.’ He felt he deserved a break after working with the Tories on a cross-party approach to the Withdrawal Agreement.
‘No one should have to sit opposite Michael Gove for six weeks. I did it for the country.’
Iain Dale quizzed him about Labour’s immediate threat: Boris.
‘The guy’s reckless. The guy’s unstable,’ said McDonnell. ‘I will move heaven and earth to stop a no-deal Brexit.’ He added, ‘I think we will beat him.’
Dale suggested that Boris’s sunny optimism is a characteristic shared by winners like Tony Blair and Ronald Reagan. McDonnell shook his head.
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