Video
John McDonnell says Corbyn was ‘the right leader’ as Labour could have won 2017 election
John McDonnell has confirmed he will not be in the Labour Party's next shadow cabinet. Picture: BBC - Credit: BBC
John McDonnell has insisted that Jeremy Corbyn was the right leader for the Labour Party, saying that the party 'could have won in 2017'.
The former shadow chancellor, who said he will not be in the next shadow cabinet, said Corbyn had been the right person to be at the helm even though he had just led it to its worst defeat since the 1930s.
The close Corbyn ally admitted that Labour had failed in its attempt to bring both sides of the Brexit debate together.
Asked by BBC News if he had been wrong to back Corbyn, the former shadow chancellor said: "No, I didn't back the wrong person, because Jeremy was the right leader. We could have won in 2017.
"Things moved on, Brexit dominated everything, and that was the horns of the dilemma that we were on."
You may also want to watch:
He said that since then, the "overwhelming issue" was the party's Brexit divide.
"And I'm an example of that," he continued. "We had a party which was largely supportive of Remain, but many of us represented Leave constituencies."
Most Read
- 1 Brexiteer Prue Leith quits Tory Party after government votes down motion to protect UK food standards
- 2 Piers Morgan must expose the government's Brexit betrayal
- 3 Public slams Brexit Party tweet which shames Tory MPs who voted against free school meals
- 4 Peers set to remove law-breaking sections of Boris Johnson's Brexit bill
- 5 Group in protest against Tory MPs who voted down free school meals targets offices with empty plates
- 6 Tory minister blames journalists for NHS Test and Trace failure as he defends Dido Harding
- 7 Michel Barnier postpones Brussels return as Brexit trade talks in London continue
- 8 James Cleverly mocked after telling people to 'look at how they're doing in Wales'
- 9 Dido Harding is struggling to defend the indefensible
- 10 Boris Johnson and Priti Patel urged to end 'attacks' on lawyers in letter by 800 legal professionals
Adding that appeasing either side would have alienated the other, he said: "We tried to bring the country together. It failed. We have to accept that, take it on the chin. We have to own that and then move on.
"With the new leadership coming in, that will enable us to move forward on the key issues," he said, naming a good Brexit deal, inquality and climate change.
"I won't be in that shadow cabinet - I've done my bit," he said. "We need to move on at that stage with that new leader."
He said the party was in a position to learn lessons and construct a "broad coalition" that can address the seats the party lost.
Become a Supporter
The New European is proud of its journalism and we hope you are proud of it too. We believe our voice is important - both in representing the pro-EU perspective and also to help rebalance the right wing extremes of much of the UK national press. If you value what we are doing, you can help us by making a contribution to the cost of our journalism.
