John McDonnell

Politician

1951-09-08

Quotes by John McDonnell

• The arrogant view that young people don't count because they don't vote has thankfully been smashed for ever.

  Read quote

• Political rivalry is one thing but personal smear campaigns scrape the barrel of political infighting.

  Read quote

• If bitter party name-calling turns people off then smear politics just destroys all credibility in the aims of politicians, the role of political parties and the political process itself.

  Read quote

• I made the case for public ownership in 'Another World is Possible' - a manifesto for 21st-century socialism - as it is the most rational approach for managing resources in the long-term interest of the entire community.

  Read quote

• I call a spade a shovel, straightforward. If I disagree with someone, I tell them.

  Read quote

• The spread of information technology and the long-term decline in the cost of computing power have created opportunities that simply did not exist before. Airbnb, for example, could not have existed before the Internet.

  Read quote

• The New Labour political elite has long conspired to secure a so-called 'smooth transition' for Blair's successor. This would amount to little more than the imposition of a leader on the party and our supporters without any real democratic participation.

  Read quote

• Since John Smith's death and the Blair/Brown takeover in 1994, party members have watched the way in which an elite leadership group has formed in the Labour party, cutting itself off from the party's traditions, values and norms of behaviour.

  Read quote

• If corporations and rich people who made fortunes out of us during the boom are not paying their fair share then reform the tax system and close down the tax havens.

  Read quote

• Heathrow is in my constituency and I have been at both the Terminal 4 and Terminal 5 planning inquiries. At these inquiries my community has been assured by the inquiry inspectors, BAA and government ministers that each development would be the last piece of expansion of the airport because of its ever-increasing noise and air pollution.

  Read quote

• The Tories have made a complete mess of Brexit negotiations.

  Read quote

• My ambition is to learn to play the trombone. My wife pulls my leg about it. I'll find time, my neighbours might not appreciate it but I'm going to try.

  Read quote

• There's something in people's character, particularly the British character, about unfairness. They don't like it.

  Read quote

• We have to face up to the fact that without the armed uprising in 1916 Britain would not have withdrawn from southern Ireland.

  Read quote

• To be effective in tackling poverty wages, a living wage has to be mandatory and basic trade union rights should be restored so workers can protect themselves from exploitative employers.

  Read quote