John McDonnell labels Boris Johnson a ‘dictator’ and compares him to Adolf Hitler as he attacks the PM’s plan to suspend Parliament to stop MPs blocking Brexit
- Shadow chancellor said Britons would not ‘tolerate’ plan to suspend Parliament
- ‘They have stood up to dictators before and they will stand up to this one as well’
- Mr McDonnell said ‘people have given their lives to secure this democracy’
John McDonnell appeared to compare Boris Johnson to Adolf Hitler today as he labelled the Prime Minister a ‘dictator’ over his plan to suspend Parliament.
The shadow chancellor said Britons had ‘stood up to dictators before and they will stand up to this one as well’ immediately after he referred to the fact that ‘people have given their lives’ in defence of UK democracy.
Mr McDonnell also claimed Mr Johnson was running Downing Street as if it was the Bullingdon Club – an elite group of Oxford students previously attended by the PM and David Cameron.
Mr McDonnell accused Mr Johnson of ‘treating us like serfs’ and warned the public would not ‘tolerate’ it after the PM secured permission from the Queen to prorogue Parliament for five weeks in the run up to the October 31 Brexit deadline.
MPs are due to be sent home at some point in the week beginning September 9, returning on October 14.
Mr Johnson has insisted the lengthy prorogation is needed to allow the government to prepare for a Queen’s Speech in which the PM will set out his domestic legislative priorities.
But his critics are adamant that he has made the move in order to reduce the amount of time available to MPs to try to block a No Deal break from Brussels on Halloween.
Mr Johnson’s stated preference is for Britain to leave with a deal but he has pledged to deliver Brexit with or without an agreement.
John McDonnell, pictured this morning at an event in central London, labelled Boris Johnson a ‘dictator’
Mr McDonnell said voters will not ‘tolerate’ the Prime Minister’s plan to suspend Parliament for five weeks
The decision to suspend Parliament has sparked widespread anger among the PM’s political opponents.
Speaking at an event in London today, Mr McDonnell said: ‘I just give Boris Johnson this warning really.
‘Trying to undermine the very institution – and Matthew Hancock [the Health Secretary] summed it up when he was arguing against prorogation – that people have given their lives for, to secure this democracy.
‘To try and undermine that flies in the face of a whole history and centuries of democratic advancement in this country.
‘I don’t think the British people will tolerate that.
‘They have stood up to dictators before and they will stand up to this one as well.’
Mr Hancock reportedly said during the Tory leadership campaign that proroguing Parliament would go ‘against everything those men who fought their way up those beaches died for’ in reference to D-Day.
Mr McDonnell also confirmed today that Labour would keep the option of a no confidence vote in the government ‘on the table’ in a bid to stop a No Deal Brexit.
He said he thought Mr Johnson had, after his decision to prorogue, ‘mobilised a majority’ against his own administration in the House of Commons.
The shadow Cabinet member called Chancellor Sajid Javid’s one-year spending review a ‘panic-driven stunt Budget’ with the aim of ‘shifting enough votes to get them into power’ at the next election.
Addressing the media and party supporters at Church House in Westminster, he predicted there could be an election as soon as October or November.
He said ‘grandiose announcements’ from the PM about forthcoming money for the NHS, education and policing proved ‘austerity was always a political choice, not an economic necessity’.
‘The new Prime Minister seems to have dazzled some people with his boosterism and clowning,’ he said.
‘If you enjoy clowns my advice is go to the circus, don’t put them in Number 10, in charge of our country.
‘He tells us all to be more optimistic whilst labelling as “doomsters” those who don’t fall for his routine.
‘Try telling that to children who have just spent the summer scavenging in bins for food – according to the Childhood Trust – because they can’t afford to eat without free school meals.
‘Tell that to those being housed in shipping containers due – according to the Children’s Commissioner for England – to a shortage of affordable housing, cuts to Universal Credit and the housing benefit freeze.’
He added: ‘Look, telling the truth about the poverty created by the Conservatives isn’t ‘running Britain down’.
‘And solving those problems won’t come from crossing our fingers, hoping for the best and trusting the Tories with our public services.’
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