Fisherpeople? Mcdonnell does a Trudeau

JOHN MCDONNELL, Labour’s shadow chancellor, appeared to be channelling his inner Justin Trudeau yesterday when he referred to British fishermen as “fisherpeople” during a television interview.

Labour’s shadow chancellor spoke of the need to protect the interests of British fishing fleets after Brexit, employing the unfamiliar phrase which drew comparisons to the Canadian prime minister.

Asked whether Labour would be prepared to negotiate fishing rights with the European Union after Brexit, after Philip Hammond’s admission that he would, Mr Mcdonnell said: “Look, we want to ensure our own fisherpeople lead the discussions that we’re having about our future fishing industry.”

He told the BBC’S Andrew Marr: “And what they’re saying to us is, in any negotiations you’ve got to ensure that our livelihoods are protected, but also you’ve got to ensure that the stock, the stock of fish is protected. So when we go into negotiations they’re the people we’ll be listening to.”

Mr Trudeau, who is known for his careful use of language, was criticised for telling a young female member of the audience at a recent question time event that she should not refer to “mankind”, but “peoplekind”.

He was accused of “mansplaining”, the term to describe men who explain a situation to women, often in a patronising manner which ignores their knowledge of the subject matter.

Theresa May employed the term to criticise Jeremy Corbyn’s discussion of International Women’s Day.