Former Shadow Chancellor John Mcdonnell Speaks to T&G on the Labour Party and More

Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has told Times Radio Labour "expected the worst" in the Batley and Spen by-election and that victory provided a "reason to breathe a heavy sigh of relief."

Speaking to Tom Newton Dunn and Paul Waugh on T&G on Sunday, he said:

It was a reason to breathe a heavy sigh of relief to be honest. I think you should be straight with people about this. You know, we expected the worst. But actually to win it, I think collectively across the whole party there was a sigh of relief, particularly about the circumstances of the campaign as well. It was pretty brutal and quite, quite nasty at times.

On suggestions that the Socialist Campaign Group of which John McDonnell is member has met and conceded there is not enough support for a leadership challenge against Keir Starmer he said;

Don't believe everything Peter Mandelson says now he's suddenly come out of the cave again. We didn't discuss at the campaign group a leadership challenge. We didn't. There were people stirring and saying whether or not they could mount a challenge but that wasn't coming from the campaign group, that was coming from elsewhere.

And on suggestions of a change of the rules around electing a new leader, he said:

I always say to people plotting this thing to be careful what you wish for. Because if you try that sort of thing people resent it. They just see it as such an obvious manoeuvre. And also it looks as though you're doing it from a point of weakness and then what usually happens, and I've been there, is you set up a system that eventually comes back and bites you. My view at the moment is that the system that we've got is the most democratic because it's the most engaging based upon one person, one vote. Let's do that.

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