As the Tory leadership battle heats up, Labour’s shadow chancellor tells Westminster reporter Daniel O’Donoghue why he worries for the future of the Union
Sat in his office surrounded by policy papers and strategy boards, shadow chancellor John McDonnell struggled to hold back his anger as he reflected on the ongoing Tory leadership battle.
Describing it as “grotesque”, he claimed the majority of the leadership pitches could have been written “10 or 20 years ago” as they were all “tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts”.
Mr McDonnell is particularly concerned about the “catastrophic” impact a Boris Johnson government would have on Scotland.
In an interview with the Press and Journal, he admitted he would “worry” about the future of the Union in the former foreign secretary’s “dangerous” hands.
The senior Labour figure, who is Jeremy Corbyn’s right hand man, also slapped down the SNP for continuing to agitate for independence – saying the “best thing” for Scotland was a Labour prime minister in Downing Street and not a “harmful” second referendum.
He said: “The reaction to Boris or any Tory leader by Nicola Sturgeon should not be to harm your country even more by splitting away and by dividing.
“The best thing to do is to defeat him at a general election and get a Labour government in, simple.”
Mr McDonnell, sitting in his office surrounded by policy papers and strategy boards in Labour’s parliamentary HQ, struggled to hold back his anger as he spoke of the “grotesque” Tory leadership contest which has been playing out over the last week.
He said the majority of leadership pitches could have been written “10 or 20 years ago” as they were all “tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts”.
Asked about the candidates left running and their potential impact on Scotland, Mr McDonnell said Mr Johnson posed the greatest threat.
The former London mayor launched his campaign on Wednesday by seeking to big up his Unionist credentials – telling journalists and supporters that he “will seek to strengthen the Union of our four nations.”
However that pledge has since been undermined with his continued bullishness around a no-deal Brexit and promises of a tax break in England that would leave Scottish workers footing the bill.
Mr McDonnell said: “I think a Boris Johnson premiership could be catastrophic, it really could and I think if you look at his track record in government so far, when he was foreign secretary he wasn’t just an embarrassment he was actually dangerous and I think that’s my worry about him as premier as well.”
He also said that Mr Johnson “should not have the right to take over as prime minister without a general election”, he said: “That happened with Theresa May, a prime minister was imposed upon us, it shouldn’t happen twice”.
Mr McDonnell however said he was “confident” of a recovery, he said: “Look in a general election we’ll have a much wider debate on what’s going on, not just Brexit.
“We’ll get on to the domestic policies, in terms of how we transform the economy with investment in public services and how we tackle poverty.”
Asked if he still had confidence in Richard Leonard to lead the party in Scotland, he replied with a simple “yeah”.
Mr McDonnell will be taking Labour’s policy offers on “roadshow” around the country throughout the rest of this year and into next year with dates yet to be announced for Scotland.
