John McDonnell

The Right Honourable
John McDonnell
MP
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
Assumed office
13 September 2015
Leader Jeremy Corbyn
Shadowing George Osborne
Philip Hammond
Preceded by Chris Leslie
Member of Parliament
for Hayes and Harlington
Assumed office
1 May 1997
Preceded by Terry Dicks
Majority 18,115 (37.9%)
Deputy Leader of the Greater London Council
In office
1984–1985
Leader Ken Livingstone
Preceded by Illtyd Harrington
Succeeded by Michael Ward
Member of Greater London Council for Hayes and Harlington
In office
7 May 1981 – 31 March 1986
Preceded by A. H. S. Hull
Succeeded by Council abolished
Majority 4,346 (17.1%)[1]
Personal details
Born John Martin McDonnell
(1951-09-08) 8 September 1951
Liverpool, England
Political party Labour
Alma mater Brunel University
Birkbeck, University of London
Website Official website

John Martin McDonnell (born 8 September 1951) is a British Labour Party politician who was appointed the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in September 2015. He became the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hayes and Harlington at the 1997 general election, and has retained his seat from then onwards.

He has served as Chair of the Socialist Campaign Group in Parliament and the Labour Representation Committee, and was the chair of the Public Services Not Private Profit Group. He is also Parliamentary Convenor of the Trade Union Co-ordinating Group of eight left-wing trade unions representing over half a million workers. McDonnell attempted to stand for the position of Labour Party leader following Tony Blair's resignation in 2007, but was unable to gain sufficient nominations.[2] He was a candidate for party leadership again in 2010 following Gordon Brown's resignation after Labour's electoral defeat.[3] but withdrew in favour of Diane Abbott, feeling that he would be unable to secure enough nominations.[4]

Following Jeremy Corbyn's landslide election victory as Labour leader, he appointed McDonnell as his Shadow Chancellor. Alongside Corbyn, McDonnell has been seen as a key figure on the left-wing of the party.[5] As Shadow Chancellor, McDonnell pledged to increase spending on infrastructure and research, describing his vision for the economy as "socialism with an iPad".

Early life and personal life

Born in Liverpool, McDonnell moved with his family to the south of England when he was very young; his father became a bus driver and was a branch secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union.[6] McDonnell attended Great Yarmouth Grammar School. Upon leaving education, he held a series of unskilled jobs. McDonnell began training to be a Catholic priest, though eventually decided against the vocation.[7] After marrying his first wife, he studied for A-levels at night school at Burnley Technical College, and at the age of 23, he moved to Hayes in Greater London, attended Brunel University, and took a Bachelor of Science degree in Government and Politics.[8][9] During this period, he helped his wife run a small children's home in Hayes, and was active on behalf of his local community and for National Union of Public Employees. After completing his Master of Science in Politics and Sociology at Birkbeck College, University of London,[9][10] he became a researcher and official with the National Union of Mineworkers from 1977–78, and later the Trades Union Congress from 1978–82. From 1985–87, he was head of the Policy Unit at Camden Borough Council, then chief executive of the Association of London Authorities from 1987–95 and the Association of London Government[11] from 1995–97.

McDonnell has two daughters from his first marriage, which ended in 1985,[12] and a son[13] from his second marriage to Cynthia Pinto in 1995.[9]

In 2006, McDonnell said that "Marx, Lenin and Trotsky" were his "most significant" intellectual influences.[14] In the past, McDonnell has been open about his support for Marxism by saying to his supporters "I'm straight up, I'm honest with people. I'm a Marxist". However, during an interview with Andrew Marr, McDonnell was asked "are you a Marxist?", and replied: "I believe there's a lot to learn from reading Kapital, yes of course there is, and that's been recommended not just by me but many others, mainstream economists as well".[15] He has also said "I will be the first socialist Labour Chancellor".[16]

Greater London Council (1981-1986)

In 1981, McDonnell was elected to the Greater London Council (GLC) as the member for Hayes and Harlington. He became the Chair of Finance, responsible for the GLC's £3,000,000,000 budget,[17] and was Ken Livingstone's deputy leader. In an interview with Ronan Bennett for The Guardian newspaper, he described his role during this time as being "to translate policies into concrete realities on the ground". He further discussed his performance by indicating, "I was a fairly hard-nosed administrator. We set in train policies for which we were attacked from all sides but are now accepted as mainstream: large-scale investment in public services; raising the issue of Ireland and arguing for a dialogue for peace; equal opportunities; police accountability. We set up a women's committee, an ethnic minorities committee".[6]

Livingstone removed McDonnell from the post of deputy leader in 1985, shortly after they came into conflict over the GLC's budget. Margaret Thatcher's government cut central government funding to local government, and then introduced rate capping, preventing selected councils from raising local taxation beyond a set level as a means of reducing public spending. Encouraged by the success of the Liverpool City Council, which delayed issuing a budget in 1984 until the government agreed to restore some funding cuts, twelve Labour-controlled councils that had the cap imposed on them chose not to set a rate at all in the spring of 1985, demanding that the government lift the cap. The GLC faced capping, and McDonnell headed a campaign among Labour members to adopt this strategy in response. Unlike the local councils, however, the GLC faced a legal obligation to set a rate by mid-March. McDonnell contended that accepting the cap would lead to a reduction in spending and prevent the GLC, which had already lost all of its funding from central government, from honouring the manifesto pledges Labour had been elected to fulfil in 1981.

Post GLC (1987-1997)

Following the abolition of the GLC, McDonnell was employed as head of the policy unit at Camden London Borough Council. In 1987, he became Chief Executive of the Association of London Authorities (eventually the Association of London Government), where he represented all the London Boroughs in their relations with central government and Europe. Having previously unsuccessfully contested Hampstead and Highgate in 1983, McDonnell fought for his home constituency of Hayes and Harlington at the 1992 general election, but was narrowly defeated by the Conservative incumbent Terry Dicks, by a mere 53 votes. During the campaign, his Conservative opponent Terry Dicks sued for libel over critical material in McDonnell's campaign leaflets; McDonnell settled and paid Dicks £15,000 plus legal costs, which amounted to £55,000.[18]

Member of Parliament (1997–present)

McDonnell with Grow Heathrow supporters in 2012

McDonnell became the MP for Hayes and Harlington at the 1997 general election, with a majority of 13,000. He made his maiden speech in the House of Commons on 6 June 1997. He has been involved in several local community campaigns, including one opposing the expansion of Heathrow Airport and its impact on local communities. He opposed New Labour policies of the Iraq War, foundation hospitals, student top-up fees, trust schools and anti-terror laws.

Iraq war

McDonnell voted against the 2003 Iraq war, stating in 2007 that:

In October 2006, McDonnell was one of twelve Labour MPs to back Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party's call for a parliamentary inquiry into the war in Iraq.[20]

Irish Republican Army

In May 2003, he made controversial comments about the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), saying: "It's about time we started honouring those people involved in the armed struggle. It was the bombs and bullets and sacrifice made by the likes of Bobby Sands that brought Britain to the negotiating table. The peace we have now is due to the action of the IRA".[21]

Threatened with expulsion from the Labour Party, he went on to offer a rationale for his comments in an article written for The Guardian in June 2003 ("Expulsion would be an odd reward for telling hard truths"), stating:

According to a report in The Times published in November 2015, McDonnell in 1985 made similar comments at a Labour Committee on Ireland meeting, before the start of the Northern Ireland peace process. The Deptford Mercury asserted at the time that McDonnell had suggested there was a role for "the ballot, the bullet and the bomb" in bringing about a United Ireland, and joked about "kneecapping" the "gutless wimp" Labour councillors who had declined to join the meeting.[23]

In September 2015, McDonnell apologised on Question Time for any offence caused by his remarks on the IRA.[24]

Groups and campaigns in Parliament

McDonnell is a leading member of a number of all-party groups within Parliament, including groups representing individual trade unions, such as the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and justice unions such as NAPO. He is also a leading member of groups on a wide range of issues such as Britain's Irish community, the Punjabi community, endometriosis, and Kenya. McDonnell is a member of the Labour Land Campaign, which advocates introducing a land value tax.[25][26]

McDonnell chairs the Labour Representation Committee (LRC), a left-wing group of Labour activists, local parties, trade unions and MPs that campaigns for the adoption of a raft of socialist policies by the Labour Government. The group was founded on Saturday, 3 July 2004, and currently has more than 800 members and 90 affiliates. He also chairs the Public Services Not Private Profit, an anti-privatisation campaign that brings together sixteen trade unions and several campaigning organisations, such as the World Development Movement, Defend Council Housing and the National Pensioners Convention. An early day motion in support of the campaign attracted more than ninety MPs.[27] The campaign held a mass rally and lobby of Parliament on 27 June 2006, which was attended by more than 2,000 trade unionists.[28]

Tamil Tigers

According to an article in TamilNet, McDonnell and another signatory, fellow MP Jeremy Corbyn, signed a petition calling on the UK to lift a ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (also known as the Tamil Tigers), which is listed as a terrorist group by the European Union.[29]

Heathrow Airport expansion

During a debate on the expansion of London Heathrow Airport on 15 January 2009, McDonnell was suspended for five days by Deputy Speaker Alan Haselhurst after disrupting Commons proceedings. McDonnell picked up the ceremonial mace and placed it down on an empty bench in the Commons while shouting that the lack of a vote on the third runway was "a disgrace to the democracy of this country".[30][31] In February 2013, McDonnell was among those who supported the People's Assembly Against Austerity in a letter published by The Guardian newspaper.[32]

Armed police and MI5

In 2015, McDonnell's name appeared on a letter calling for the armed police and MI5 to be disbanded. He claimed that he had not signed the letter, which was produced by the Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory (SCLV), but he was photographed holding a copy of the letter, although he later said that he did not know that the demand was on the letter.[33][34]

2007 Labour leadership campaign

Placard supporting McDonnell at an anti-war demonstration

On 14 July 2006, McDonnell announced his intention to stand for leadership of the Labour Party when Tony Blair announced the date of his resignation. He called for "a challenge to the present political consensus", and, "a real Labour government based upon the policies that our supporters expect from us". McDonnell said he would like to see a return to the Labour Party's more traditional areas.

Initially, McDonnell and Michael Meacher were the two candidates representing the left-wing of the party. McDonnell's campaign concentrated on grassroots efforts, which earned him endorsements from the Trades Union Congress,[35] ASLEF, the annual conference of the Labour Representation Committee, and various other left-wing groups. In a YouGov opinion poll of more than 1,100 Labour Party members asking their preferred choice in the leadership contest, McDonnell received 9% support, and was ranked second to Gordon Brown who led with 80% of the vote.[36] Declared supporters included Diane Abbott, Tony Benn, and Ann Cryer. In total, eleven Labour MPs declared their support on McDonnell's campaign website.[37]

Labour Party rules require candidates to be nominated by 12.5% of Labour MPs (45 out of a total of 355 in 2007). McDonnell and Meacher's campaign teams reached an agreement that when the contest began, the candidate with the fewest pledged nominations from MPs would drop out. Meacher withdrew on 14 May 2007, endorsing McDonnell. However, Gordon Brown received 313 (88.2%) nominations, making it impossible for McDonnell 29 (8.2%), to collect the 45 nominations required to proceed to the Electoral College. As the only nominated candidate, Gordon Brown was declared leader by the NEC.

2010 Labour leadership campaign

On 18 May 2010, news broke that McDonnell wanted to stand in the Labour Party leadership election, to be held following the resignation of Gordon Brown, and would announce it the following day at the Public and Commercial Services Union conference in Brighton. McDonnell noted that it would be "difficult" to get the 33 nominations needed from the parliamentary Labour Party required to stand in the election.[3]

During a hustings for the GMB Union on 7 June, McDonnell was asked what single act he would do to improve the world if he could travel back to the 1980s. His off-the-cuff reply was that "I was on the GLC that Mrs. Thatcher abolished, I worked for the NUM and we had the NUM strike, I think I would assassinate Thatcher".[38][39] Conservative MP Conor Burns told the BBC that "[it was] very distasteful" and "a very silly remark". McDonnell told the BBC: "I'm sorry if I have caused offence to anyone. It was a joke and in that audience it was taken as a joke... it was taken out of context, I can see if people are upset about that and if I have caused offence to anyone of course I apologise".[40][41]

On 9 June 2010, the deadline for nominations, he had secured only 16 nominations and withdrew from the contest.[42]

Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer (2015–present)

McDonnell after giving his 2016 Labour Party Conference speech, with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn

McDonnell was one of the thirty-six Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn (who was elected as Labour leader with 59.5% of the vote) as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015.[43] McDonnell managed Corbyn's leadership campaign, and he was appointed Shadow Chancellor in September 2015.[44]

In an article in The Guardian in the previous month, he set out the economic principles that would be followed under Corbyn:

McDonnell's first speech as Shadow Chancellor was at the 2015 Labour Party conference in Brighton. In the speech, he set out Labour's thinking and priorities in key areas, as well as encouraging Labour MPs who had refused to serve under Corbyn to return.[46]

He surprised many by calling upon Labour MPs to back George Osborne's Fiscal Charter, arguing that supporting the proposed deficit reduction framework showed Labour's commitment to "living within their means".[47] However, he reversed that call in October, citing his trip to visit former steelworkers at a recently closed plant in Redcar as the reason for not wanting to be associated with supporting government cuts.[48] McDonnell repeated the word "embarrassing" five times in his Commons response to the U-turn,[49] adding that "a bit of humility amongst politicians never goes amiss".[50]

In a November speech ahead of Osborne's Spending Review, McDonnell pledged that a Labour government would spend 3.5% of GDP on infrastructure and fund research through an Innovation Policy Council, describing his vision for the economy as "socialism with an iPad".[51][52]

During his response to the 2015 Autumn Statement in which he accused George Osborne of "sheer economic illiteracy", McDonnell highlighted that the government was "selling off at least £5,000,000,000 worth of our own assets" to foreign investors, including particularly the Chinese state.[53] To make this point he quoted from a copy of Chairman Mao Zedong's Little Red Book and then threw it across the despatch box towards the Conservative front bench. A clearly amused Chancellor Osborne, responded by quipping that it was McDonnell's own signed copy.[54][55]

On 29 September 2016, he was appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and may therefore use the title The Right Honourable.[56]

In the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire, McDonnell said those who died in it were "murdered" by political decisions, arguing "The decision to close fire stations and to cut 10,000 fire fighters and then to freeze their pay for over a decade contributed to those deaths inevitably".[57] The use of the word "murder" was questioned by some of his colleagues as well as the Conservative Party, with Jim Fitzpatrick, leader of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Fire Safety suggesting it was "premature" to draw conclusions about what caused the deaths.[57]

McDonnell said that Grenfell "symbolised for many everything that’s gone wrong in this country since austerity was imposed upon us" and used it to highlight pay cuts across the public sector, arguing that Conservatives praise the emergency services “every time there’s a tragedy” while cutting jobs and wages.[58][59]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Greater London Council election results: Hillingdon
  2. ↑ "Brown will enter No 10 unopposed". BBC News. 16 May 2007. Retrieved 16 May 2007.
  3. 1 2 "Labour MP John McDonnell to stand in the leadership campaign". Daily Mirror. 16 May 2010. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  4. ↑ McDonnell, John (9 June 2010). "I'm withdrawing from Labour leadership race". Labour Representation Committee. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  5. ↑ Duncan Hall. A2 Government and Politics: Ideologies and Ideologies in Action. Lulu.com. pp. 45–46. ISBN 978-1-4477-3399-7.
  6. 1 2 Bennett, Ronan (26 September 2006). "Honest John". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  7. ↑ https://twitter.com/johnmcdonnellMP/status/872597234386423808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Forder-order.com%2F2017%2F06%2F08%2Fjohn-mcdonnells-school-days%2F
  8. ↑ "Politics and History BSc". Brunel University London. 14 September 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 "Candidate: John McDonnell". BBC News.
  10. ↑ "Department of Politics". Bbk.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  11. ↑ "London Councils". London Councils. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  12. ↑ Bennett, Ronan (26 September 2006). "Honest John". The Guardian. London, UK. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
  13. ↑ Mulholland, Hélène (14 July 2006). "Who is John McDonnell?". The Guardian. London, UK. Retrieved 10 January 2007.
  14. ↑ "Labour's manifesto is more Keynesian than Marxist". 2017.
  15. ↑ "The Marx Brothers: Jeremy Corbyn joins John McDonnell in praising Communist icon's work". The Telegraph. 8 May 2017.
  16. ↑ "John McDonnell: ‘I will be the first socialist Labour Chancellor’". Mirror. 7 May 2017.
  17. ↑ "Profile: John McDonnell". BBC News. 11 June 2007. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  18. ↑ Platt, Steve (12 March 1993). "Would you sue your paper boy?". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 4 May 2006. Retrieved 1 November 2006.
  19. ↑ "How Labour's contenders see the war". The Guardian. 21 February 2007. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  20. ↑ "Labour MPs who rebelled on Iraq". BBC News. 31 October 2006. Retrieved 31 October 2006.
  21. ↑ Happold, Tom (30 May 2003). "MP's 'brave IRA' comments spark outrage". The Guardian. London, UK. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  22. ↑ McDonnell, John (3 June 2003). "Why I stood up for Bobby Sands". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  23. ↑ Kennedy, Dominic (27 November 2015). "McDonnell gave his backing to the IRA's bomb campaign". The Times. Retrieved 27 November 2015. (subscription required)
  24. ↑ Watt, Nicholas; Gayle, Damien (17 September 2015). "John McDonnell apologises ‘from the bottom of my heart’ for IRA comment". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  25. ↑ Labour Land Campaign website, labourland.org. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  26. ↑ "John McDonnell". John McDonnell.
  27. ↑ "Early Day Motion". 29 March 2006. Retrieved 1 November 2006.
  28. ↑ Mulholland, Hélène (27 June 2006). "Campaigners demand halt to privatisation". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 1 November 2006.
  29. ↑ "Call on UK to lift ban on LTTE". TamilNet. 28 December 2006. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  30. ↑ "MP suspended after mace protest". BBC. 15 January 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
  31. ↑ Sparrow, Andrew (15 January 2009). "Labour MP suspended from Commons over Heathrow protest". The Guardian. London, UK: Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
  32. ↑ People's Assembly opening letter, The Guardian, 5 February 2013.
  33. ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/12005431/John-McDonnell-signed-letter-calling-for-MI5-and-armed-police-to-be-disbanded.html
  34. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/nov/19/john-mcdonnell-denies-backing-call-to-end-mi5-and-disarm-police
  35. ↑ "John McDonnell MP: Another World Is Possible". John4leader.org.uk. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  36. ↑ David Smith and Isabel Oakeshott, ″Blair under pressure as Labour faces election rout″, The Sunday Times, 29 April 2007.
  37. ↑ "John McDonnell MP: Another World Is Possible". John4leader.org.uk. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  38. ↑ "John McDonnell apologises for Thatcher 'joke' offence". BBC News. 8 June 2010. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  39. ↑ Mulholland, Hélène; Stratton, Allegra (7 June 2010). "John McDonnell jokes that he would have liked to have assassinated Thatcher". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  40. ↑ "John McDonnell says he would like to 'assassinate' Margaret Thatcher". The Daily Telegraph. London, UK. 7 June 2010. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
  41. ↑ "BBC Daily Politics". 8 June 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  42. ↑ "John McDonnell: I'm withdrawing from Labour leadership race 9th June 2010". L-r-c.org.uk. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
  43. ↑ "Who nominated who for the 2015 Labour leadership election?". New Statesman.
  44. ↑ Mason, Rowena; Wintour, Patrick (13 September 2015). "John McDonnell appointed shadow chancellor in Corbyn's new frontbench". The Guardian. London, UK. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  45. ↑ McDonnell, John (11 August 2015). "Jeremy Corbyn would clear the deficit – but not by hitting the poor". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  46. ↑ "Labour's John McDonnell: Another world is possible". BBC News. 28 September 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  47. ↑ "John McDonnell: Labour will match Osborne and live within our means". The Guardian. 25 September 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  48. ↑ "McDonnell says fiscal charter U-turn due to meeting Redcar families". The Guardian. 13 October 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  49. ↑ Deacon, Michael (14 October 2015). "‘Embarrassing! Embarrassing! Embarrassing!’ Labour’s John McDonnell sums up his own U-turn". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  50. ↑ Morris, Nigel (15 October 2015). "John McDonnell admits 'embarrassing' U-turn over key economic policy as new Labour leadership hit by first". Independent. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  51. ↑ Wintour, Patrick (20 November 2015). "John McDonnell to unveil 'socialism with an iPad' economic plan". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  52. ↑ Dathan, Matt (20 November 2015). "John McDonnell pledges 'socialism with an iPad' in a Jeremy Corbyn-led Britain". Independent. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  53. ↑ "John McDonnell quotes Chairman Mao in Spending Review attack". BBC News. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  54. ↑ Wilkinson, Michael (25 November 2015). "John McDonnell quotes from Mao's Communist Little Red Book during Autumn Statement speech". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 26 November 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  55. ↑ Mason, Rowena (25 November 2015). "John McDonnell under fire for quoting Mao Zedong in Commons". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 25 November 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  56. ↑ "Orders of the Privy Council for October 2016" (PDF). Privy Council. The Privy Council of the United Kingdom. 12 October 2016. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  57. 1 2 John McDonnell: Grenfell victims 'murdered by political decisions' BBC
  58. ↑ Corbyn tells anti-austerity demo he's 'determined to force new election' The Guardian
  59. ↑ Damning government report shows depth of public sector pay cuts The Guardian
Historical
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Terry Dicks		 Member of Parliament
for Hayes and Harlington
1997–present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Chris Leslie		 Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
2015–present 		Incumbent
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