Mcdonnell ‘wouldn’t press nuclear button’ if he were PM

JOHN MCDONNELL has proved he is “not for fit for government” by admitting he would not fire nuclear weapons to protect Britain, the Conservative chairman has said.

The shadow chancellor was asked in an interview: “Would you press the socalled nuclear button, if you were prime minister?” He replied: “No.”

His comments sparked a sharp response from Brandon Lewis, the Tory chairman, who said: “The whole point of a deterrent is that our enemies need to know that we would be prepared to use it. That both Corbyn and Mcdonnell say they would not use it as a last resort shows Labour cannot be trusted with the defence of our nation and aren’t fit for government.”

During the general election last year, Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, was jeered by a live television audience when he said he would not fire nuclear weapons first to defend Britain.

In the New Statesman interview, Mr Mcdonnell likened himself and Mr Corbyn to “two old geezers from Last of the Summer Wine touring the country”.

He also defended his historic support for the IRA, saying: “Everything I did around Ireland was to try to bring about peace. It came from my Irish background, but we also had the threat of bombs in this constituency as well.

“So I was worried about what was happening on the ground – of people losing their lives. And I was desperate to do anything to secure the peace.”

In 2003, Mr Mcdonnell had said: “It was the bombs and bullets and sacrifice made by the likes of Bobby Sands that brought Britain to the negotiating table. The peace we have now is due to the action of the IRA.”

In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Mcdonnell said that Karl Marx’s Communist tract Das Kapital was his most influential book.

Asked if he were worried about a “run on the pound” in the event of a Labour election win, he said: “We’ll be prepared for anything. Look, the pound is already in a terrible state because of Government policy. Don’t blame me, blame them.”

Labour’s problems do not begin and end with Jeremy Corbyn. If he lost his job, another hard-left MP would run for the leadership and, as the recent NEC results show, Labour would probably elect them. Who is waiting in the wings? John Mcdonnell. Mr Mcdonnell has tried to play peacemaker in the anti-semitism row, all part of his rebranding from radical backbench bruiser to steady shadow chancellor. Leopards, however, do not change their spots. In an interview, he has said that an influential book in his life was Karl Marx’s three volume Das Kapital.

Harold Wilson famously joked that he’d never read it; countless Left-wingers pretend that they have.

Mr Mcdonnell is just bizarre enough to be telling the truth. In the same interview, Labour’s senior Marxist theorist talked about his controversial views on the IRA and his involvement in the GLC, and, when asked, said he wouldn’t push the button in the event of a nuclear war – a revealing remark. No one would ever want to use Trident, Britain’s nuclear deterrent; it’s there, paradoxically, so that such a scenario never arises. The West’s nuclear shield deters enemy powers from striking conventionally or with nuclear weapons precisely because the consequences would be so terrible. It keeps us safe and free. To say one would never press the button amounts in practice to disarmament, and Labour used to lose elections over that issue.

Things have changed. Mr Corbyn’s preference for disarmament was thoroughly explored in 2017 and it didn’t seem to cost him a single vote. Perhaps a younger generation sees the bomb as not only immoral but also unnecessary: isn’t the Cold War over? Thankfully it is, but one maintains a strong defence to ward off both present and future threats – and the Skripal poisoning operation reminds us of Russia’s terrifying ambitions. The case for keeping Trident needs to be made forcefully, and as often as possible. The problem is that the Tories just aren’t doing it. On this and so many other issues pursued by Labour – tax, spending, the NHS – they either vacate the field of battle or surrender entirely.

Absent a well-articulated Conservative vision, the debate slides to the Left. Thus Mr Mcdonnell – every bit as extreme as Mr Corbyn – gets away with playing the reasonable bank manager. It’s time the Tories alerted Britain to the real danger this man poses.