GROWING RIFT BETWEEN CORBYN AND MCDONNELL

JEREMY CORBYN blundered into unfamiliar political territory this week. The Labour leader and serial party rebel found himself outflanked on the Left by some of his own MPs.

Twenty Labour backbenchers defied their party whip on Thursday night to vote against Chancellor Philip Hammond’s Budget tax cuts for 32 million earners. It must have been the first time in his life that Labour’s hard-Left leader has been accused of lacking ambition in his desire to raid the pockets of taxpayers.

Mr Corbyn was forced into his uncomfortable stance by his shadow chancellor John McDonnell’s surprise decision not to oppose the increases in the income tax personal allowance thresholds announced in the Budget. “We’re not going to take money out of people’s pockets, simple as that,” Mr McDonnell said.

Labour’s bust-up over income tax is the latest indication that all is not well between the two old comrades in arms. Mr Corbyn is understood to be not happy about a policy seen as benefiting those who are well off.

At the heart of the rift is a clash between Mr Corbyn’s dreamy romanticism and the shadow chancellor’s more pragmatic approach to politics. The Labour leader idolised the late Tony Benn, leading exponent of the hard-Left’s “no compromise with the electorate” ideals in the 1980s. Benn saw Labour’s vote-losing 1983 general election manifesto as a “victory for socialism”. Like his mentor, Mr Corbyn has always preferred purity to the compromises of office.

In contrast, Mr McDonnell is willing to make the tactical switches necessary on the path to seizing power.

One party insider said: “John senses Labour might have a chance at the next election.”

The shadow chancellor’s warm words about letting taxpayers keep more of their own cash need to be seen in that context.

Labour’s hugely ambitious plans for sweeping nationalisation and uncontrolled public spending would mean swingeing tax hikes not just for the “millionaires” that party frontbenchers like to rail against but for many more far lower down the income scale.

If the shadow chancellor’s cunning strategy for seizing power proves successful, few pockets will be left unpicked to pay the bill.