McDonnell’s bizarre TV appeal
AN ally of Jeremy Corbyn yesterday made a bizarre appeal to party members to stop “rebels destroying” Labour.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell made his rallying cry staring directly into the lens on live television after asking, “what camera am I on?”
He spoke after an MP, Seema Malhotra, asked Commons Speaker John Bercow to investigate a claim that staff working for Mr Corbyn and Mr McDonnell had entered her parliamentary office without permission.
The episode was the latest sign of the mistrust and hostility between many Labour MPs and Mr Corbyn, who is now fighting a leadership challenge by MP Owen Smith.
Ms Malhotra, one of dozens of Labour MPs who quit the frontbench in a failed bid to make Mr Corbyn resign, said the incursion was “a breach of parliamentary privilege and a violation of the privacy, security and confidentiality of an MP’s office”.
She said she had evidence of three unauthorised attempts to enter her office using a digital pass key. Two were successful. She said her “courteous” staff, who included an intern, had felt “harassed, intimidated and insecure and decided it would be best to not leave anyone alone in the office”.
Leadership insiders dismissed the incident as a “small matter” resulting from a miscommunication.
Mr McDonnell insisted the office manager involved had assumed Ms Malhotra had moved out of her Shadow Treasury team office, a month on from her resignation, after seeing boxes outside the room.
He told BBC One’s Andrew Marr show: “I have now got a member of staff… she’s a widow with daughters.
“This is her sole income … worried she’s going to lose her job and face prosecution because it’s described as a break-in. That’s just so distressing. It’s unacceptable. This has obviously been an error.”
Mr McDonnell then asked: “What camera am I on? Am I on this camera?”
Looking straight at the lens, he continued: “Let me just say this to Labour Party supporters, Labour members, members of the Parliamentary Labour Party: We’ve got to stop this now.
“There’s a small group out there willing to destroy our party just to remove Jeremy Corbyn. We’ve got to stop them.”
Mr Corbyn is widely expected to keep his job when the result of the election is announced on September 24.