Boris Johnson 'hates' working class people and Labour will deliver him a bigger shock at general election than 2017, McDonnell says
John McDonnell has accused Boris Johnson of “hating” working-class people, as the shadow chancellor insisted Labour is poised to deliver a bigger “shock” than at the last election.
In his strongest criticism of the prime minister yet, McDonnell lashed out at his past description of the less well-off as “drunk, criminal, aimless, feckless and hopeless” to warn voters of the Tories’ true feelings towards them.
“When they attack me, or Jeremy, we know it’s not really about us. It’s about you, they hate the people of this country,” Mr McDonnell told an event in London.
“They think – and I quote the prime minister – that you’re drunk and criminal, they hate the idea you might dream of a better life.
“They hate the idea you might want real change in how things have been done for so long, and a say in how things are done in future.”
The attack came as he brushed off growing evidence that Mr Johnson will be heading back to No 10 on Friday morning, with a big lead in The Independent’s new poll and many others.
Rejecting suggestions that Labour heartland voters are poised to switch to the Conservatives, Mr McDonnell insisted: “They have had enough. I think they want real change.
“Some people were shocked in the 2017 general election and I think they will be even more shocked this time around.”
As he announced that a Labour government would hold a quickfire Budget on 5 February, Mr McDonnell also:
* Rejected warnings of "capital flight” if Jeremy Corbyn wins, claiming: “My fear is that the pound will start going up because of our investment plans."
* Said he would make an “assessment” at the time about how to vote in the fresh Brexit referendum that Labour has promised, but added: "I've said consistently I can't see a better deal than Remain.”
* Failed to rule out taking over as an “interim leader” if Labour loses and Mr Corbyn quits – insisting only that the issue would not rise because the party will win.
* Argued voters needed to be convinced that Labour’s radicalism is possible because austerity and free-market economics had “dulled people’s sense of what’s possible, just as they were intended to do”.
* Did not rule out breaking up the tech giants, saying: “That will be a discussion we will be having.”
Mr Johnson dismissed the working class as “likely to be drunk, criminal, aimless, feckless and hopeless”, in a column for The Spectator magazine in 1995.
Mr McDonnell made an emotional appeal to the public to vote for change, suggesting that their “children or grandchildren” would ask them: “What did you do to end that world of rough sleeping and food banks?
“What did you do to save the NHS and stop the Tories selling it off? What did you do to bring back pride to our town?
“And to finally wrestle back control from those who had kept it to themselves for so long?”
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