This weekend, John McDonnell set the cat among the pigeons with an interview on the Sunday Politics. With Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro winning re-election amid claims of vote-rigging, the shadow chancellor was asked whether Venezuela was an example of a failed socialist economic model.
McDonnell’s reply? The country isn’t socialist enough. He said it ‘took a wrong turn’ when Nicolás Maduro took over from veteran socialist leader Hugo Cháveznder and it is now no longer ‘a socialist country’.
Alas, it seems not all of McDonnell’s comrades are on the same page. Putting aside what Venezuela’s chief UK cheerleader Chris Williamson thinks, Mr S was curious to learn of the stance being adopted by a Young Labour official. Step forward Marcus Barnett – Young Labour International Officer and Secretary of London Young Labour. He took to social media on Sunday to share a tweet of Maduro titled ‘Ooooh Nicky Maduro!’:
After all, nothing says success like the leader of a country where only 1 in 10 have enough to eat.
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