Oh dear. Shadow chancellor John McDonnell’s interview on the Today programme started off a little oddly this morning, with the presenters noting how rough he looked in the studio – apparently he had tripped over fly-tipped rubbish outside his house. The Labour MP joked that although he was arriving rather than leaving the studio looking roughed-up, John Humphreys will ‘beat me up anyway, won’t he?’
Clearly, it was a sign of things to come. The interview began with Labour’s huge spending proposals, and how they would square this with their supposed promise to reduce the deficit. His answer – increased tax revenues – wasn’t fooling anyone.
McDonnell was then taken to task about whether Labour would end the benefits freezes that they have spent the last several years complaining about. Remarkably, the Labour MP said they still didn’t have a policy on the issue, despite it being a year after the General Election.
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