New Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, could be a tricky one for Osborne to deal with
His first big speech gets positive responses
The McDonnell speech was grown-up, thoughtful and measured. But his Achille's Heel remains the comments he made years ago elsewhere.
— Jim Pickard ? (@PickardJE) September 28, 2015
Mature & impressive Labour conference speech by new shadow chancellor, John McDonnell. We cd pick holes in it, but that's true of them all
— MichaelWhite (@michaelwhite) September 28, 2015
Loudest applause yet as McDonnell appeals to those who left the shadow cabinet to "come back and help us succeed". #lab15
— George Eaton (@georgeeaton) September 28, 2015
John McDonnell first came to prominence in 2007 when he sought to run against Gordon Brown for the party leadership. Unfortunately for him the Brown camp launched a massive effort to ensure that so many of the then PLP backed their man that there weren’t enough left over to get McDonnell on the ballot.
I’ve long been impressed with his communication skills and over the past few days we’ve seen something of his political strengths. He’s sharp and a lot of the success or failure of the Corbyn leadership rests on his shoulders.
His speech today showed that he’s not going to be as easy a foe for Osborne as many might have expected.