Jeremy Corbyn should be welcomed back to the Labour Party by Andy Burnham, the former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has said.
In an interview for ‘The Real Question with Shehab Khan’, McDonnell, who served on Corbyn’s front bench, said he was willing to talk to Downing Street to try to make it happen.
Corbyn was suspended from the parliamentary Labour Party after a row over antisemitism, and former Prime Minister Keir Starmer prevented the party from endorsing Corbyn at the last election. That forced the former Labour leader to stand as an independent.
McDonnell said that, with Starmer now gone and Burnham as leader, the time had come for Corbyn to return to the party he once led: “Whatever some people think, Jeremy has a following out there, particularly amongst young people as well, and I think he’s an electoral asset … I think it would be a magnanimous gesture for Andy Burnham.”
Here are some other topics Shehab pressed McDonnell on in the wide-ranging interview:
His thoughts on Andy Burnham, the new prime minister
Whether changing the pension triple lock is a good idea
The need for electoral reform
Lessons from the 2017 and 2019 general elections
Paid subscribers can watch the interview above in full, without a paywall. Free subscribers can watch a four-minute preview.
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ICYMI: More episodes of ‘The Real Question with Shehab Khan’
