. . . as prison officers eject McDonnell over IRA links
JEREMY CORBYN’S righthand man was forced to abandon a planned speech to prison officers last week when they objected to his support for the IRA.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell was minutes away from making his keynote address to the Prison Officers’ Association’s annual conference on Wednesday when a Northern Irish delegate intervened, saying that he should not be given a platform because of his ‘links to the IRA’.
McDonnell has claimed Republican terrorists should be honoured for their ‘bombs and bullets and sacrifice’, and is said to have a plaque commemorating hunger-strike ‘martyrs’ in his office. But 28 prison officers lost their lives during the Troubles of 1968 to 1998.
The attempt to stop the speech was rejected by association chairman Mark Fairhurst.
But when Mr McDonnell, who was waiting outside the venue in Southport, heard what happened, he cancelled his speech.
A source said: ‘The Northern Ireland delegation were upset as many of them lost good friends to IRA violence. They felt McDonnell was an apologist for the IRA and that it was an insult for him to be speaking. There was real anger he had been invited.’
McDonnell sent a message to delegates saying he didn’t want to ruin the event and offered to meet Northern Ireland prison officers to address ‘misconceptions’ about his links to the Republican movement.