‘I would send Corbyn in a cab to Buckingham Palace to say “We’re taking over”!’: John McDonnell says Labour would demand keys to Number 10 from the Queen if Boris Johnson loses no confidence vote but refuses to quit
- The Shadow Chancellor said he ‘might want to invent’ a law to lock up Conservative MPs he has branded ‘social criminals’ for cutting benefits
- Tories seized on remarks, saying they showed McDonnell was unfit for office
- A source close to Mr McDonnell said the comments were a ‘joke,’ pointing out he was speaking ‘at Edinburgh festival where no speech should be without a joke
John McDonnell told attendees to his speech at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that he wants a new law to silence his opponents
John McDonnell says Labour would demand the keys to No10 from Boris Johnson if he loses a confidence vote but refuses to quit.
The Shadow Chancellor said he would be ‘sending Jeremy Corbyn in a cab to Buckingham Palace’, at an event at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Mr McDonnell said Jeremy Corbyn would demand to be allowed to take over in No 10 if Boris Johnson lost a confidence vote but refused to resign.
He added: ‘I don’t want to drag the Queen into this but I would be sending Jeremy Corbyn in a cab to Buckingham Palace to say, ‘we’re taking over’.’
Mr McDonnell came under fire for other comments at a different event at the popular Scottish festival, where he said he ‘might want to invent’ a law to lock up Conservative MPs he has branded ‘social criminals’ for cutting benefits.
Tory MPs seized on the remarks, saying they showed Mr McDonnell was unfit for high office.
A source close to Mr McDonnell said the comments were a ‘joke,’ pointing out he was speaking ‘at Edinburgh festival where no speech should be without a joke’.
But Treasury minister Simon Clarke said: ‘These are not the comments of a man fit to be Chancellor – or to hold any office – in a Western democracy. A blatant affront to the rule of law.’
Tory MP Paul Scully added: ‘It comes as little surprise McDonnell wants to invent laws to silence opponents.
McDonnell told listeners that Jeremy Corbyn (left) might have to appeal to the Queen if Boris Johnson lost a confidence vote but refused to quit as Prime Minister
‘This is a man with a sinister history, who has called for a female MP to be lynched, ‘direct action’ against opposing MPs and praised the bombs and bullets of the IRA.’
Call for law change to avoid food shortages
The British food industry has demanded ministers waive aspects of competition law to enable them to cope with the risk of a No Deal Brexit.
The Food and Drink Federation wants to allow firms to co-ordinate and direct supplies with each other. Doing so is illegal as the law stands.
Firms say, due to stockpiling for Christmas, leaving the EU in the autumn could mean there will be less warehouse space for extra food supplies.
The Road Haulage Association is also warning that lorry drivers in Dover face sitting in two-day-long queues without food or toilets if Britain leaves the EU without a deal.
Mr McDonnell was criticised in 2014 for repeating comments saying former work and pensions secretary Esther McVey deserved to be ‘lynched’.
Ian Austin, an MP who left Labour this year, tweeted: ‘Can you imagine any senior Labour figure of the past threatening to lock up Tory MPs for voting for laws they didn’t like?
‘What would people like McDonnell call Right-wing politicians who send opponents to prison?
‘These people are extremists and they’ve poisoned the Labour Party.’
Chancellor Sajid Javid said the comments showed Mr McDonnell was ‘not fit to be an MP, let alone Shadow Chancellor’.
Mr McDonnell’s remarks were made in an interview conducted by broadcaster Iain Dale on Tuesday afternoon on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Dale quizzed the Shadow Chancellor on comments he made in September 2011 at a ‘Unite the Resistance’ conference in which he called Tory MPs ‘social criminals’.
No 10 chief’s chilling warning to rebels
By Claire Ellicot, Political Correspondant
Boris Johnson’s top adviser yesterday warned MPs trying to prevent a No Deal Brexit: ‘You don’t get to choose which votes you respect.’
Former Vote Leave chief Dominic Cummings said preparations for leaving the EU on October 31 without a withdrawal agreement were going ‘great’.
He was yesterday asked about comments made by pro-Remain Tory MP and former attorney general Dominic Grieve.
Mr Grieve had attacked the No 10 adviser’s ‘characteristic arrogance and ignorance’ for reportedly saying it was now too late for MPs to stop No Deal with fewer than 90 days until the October 31 deadline.
Mr Cummings told Sky News: ‘I don’t think I am arrogant. I don’t know very much about very much. Mr Grieve will see what he’s right about.’
He added: ‘The most simple thing is, the Prime Minister believes politicians don’t get to choose which votes they respect – that is the critical issue.’
Meanwhile, it was claimed last night that Britain could go to the polls the day after a No Deal Brexit. A general election could be called on November 1, The Spectator reported. Last night, a senior Government source said: ‘It’s speculation. The only date we are thinking of is October 31 – the day we leave the EU.’
The then backbench MP said he wanted to be ‘in a situation where no Tory MP can show their face in public without being challenged by direct action’, adding: ‘They are social criminals and I warn you, we will try them.’
Speaking to Dale, he said he was ‘angry’ at the time because of ‘cuts on disability benefits’.
He claimed he had ‘never advocated violence, but I have advocated direct action’. Asked whether he could really ‘try’ politicians in a court of law, Mr McDonnell said: ‘I wouldn’t mind it actually.’
He added that he ‘might want to invent’ a law to allow such prosecutions.
At a second event in Edinburgh yesterday, Mr McDonnell said Jeremy Corbyn would demand to be allowed to take over in No 10 if Boris Johnson lost a confidence vote but refused to resign.
He said: ‘I don’t want to drag the Queen into this but I would be sending Jeremy Corbyn in a cab to Buckingham Palace to say, ‘we’re taking over’.’
Labour has refused to back the plan from anti-No Deal Tory rebels to install a short-term ‘government of national unity’ led by a Labour backbencher to stop No Deal.
Instead, the party wants Mr Corbyn to be installed as leader of a ‘caretaker’ government.
- Shadow Treasury minister Clive Lewis yesterday called for a general strike over climate change – despite Britain having reduced emissions faster than any other G20 country. The proposed date is September 20, weeks after children return to school following the summer holiday.
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