McDonnell set to join Privy Council ... but won’t kneel to Queen
ANTI-monarchy Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has been approved to join the Privy Council by the Queen.
The senior Labour figure, who once said he wanted to see a public execution of papiermâché models of the Royal Family, will have to go to Buckingham Palace to be sworn in.
Sources close to Mr McDonnell have previously suggested he would never kneel before the monarch at the ceremony.
If so he follows in the footsteps of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who shook hands with the Queen when he joined the Privy Council last year.
Mr McDonnell will also have the title Right Honourable. In exchange he must vow to be a ‘true and faithful servant’ to The Queen.
The hard-left politician, who has been accused of being an IRA sympathiser, will also have access to secret briefings from the security services. He once suggested the terror group should be honoured for their bombing campaign, which he claimed brought Britain ‘to the negotiating table’ during the Northern Ireland peace process.
He provoked an outcry in 2010 by suggesting he would like to travel back in time and assassinate Margaret Thatcher.
Mr McDonnell’s promotion to the Privy Council triggered alarm from Tory grandee Lord Tebbit, who was injured in the 1984 IRA Brighton hotel bombing.
Suggesting Mr McDonnell was not fit to be a Privy Counsellor, the peer added: ‘He cannot take that oath honestly. ‘His comments about the IRA, the Royal Family and wanting to assassinate Margaret Thatcher should all disqualify him from the position.’ Asked if his appointment cheapened the Privy Coun- cil, Lord Tebbit said: ‘It does underline how there are Privy Counsellors and there are Privy Counsellors. Not all are privy to everything being said at the Privy Council.’
Those appointed to the council traditionally kneel before the Queen and kiss the ring on her hand. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn became a member in November last year and revealed afterwards that he and the monarch ‘shook hands like adults’.
When Mr McDonnell was first tipped to join the Privy Council, Labour sources said: ‘As we saw with Jeremy, kneeling is no longer required’. His spokesman could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Mr McDonnell is one of the most anti-establishment and controversial figures to be appointed to the Privy Council, which advises the monarch. He has faced criticism as a main figure in Momentum, the pro-Corbyn group accused of being a party within the Labour Party.
Female MPs say they received online abuse at the hands of hard-Left supporters who have infiltrated the party to solidify Mr Corbyn and Mr McDonnell’s grip. The Shadow Chancellor was also embroiled in a row over misogyny after saying he wanted to ‘lynch’ former welfare minister Esther McVey.