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John McDonnell

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John Martin McDonnell (born on September 8 1951, Liverpool) is a British politician and Labour Member of Parliament for Hayes and Harlington. He is Chair of the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs, the Labour Representation Committee, and Public Services Not Private Profit. On 15 July 2006, he became the first Labour MP to announce that he would stand for leadership when Tony Blair stands down (see [1]).

McDonnell was born the son of a docker and shopworker. His family moved to the South of England at an early age. He attended Brunel University and received his Masters' degree from Birkbeck College, London University.

In 1981, McDonnell was elected Greater London Council councillor for Hayes and Harlington. He became Chair of Finance responsible for the GLC's £3bn budget. He was also Ken Livingstone's deputy leader.

Following the abolition of the GLC, McDonnell became Chief Executive of the Association of London Authorities, eventually the Association of London Government, where he represented all the London Boroughs in relation with central government and Europe.

In 1992, McDonnell fought his home town seat of Hayes and Harlington, but lost by 54 votes. However, in the United Kingdom general election, 1997, he was elected to Parliament with 62% of the vote and a 13,000 majority in one of the largest swings to Labour in the country [citation needed]. McDonnell has been involved in several local community campaigns, including against the threat of expansion at Heathrow airport and its impact on local communities.

He has voted against controversial Government policies such as the 2003 Iraq war, Foundation hospitals, student top-up fees, Trust Schools and anti-terror laws. In May 2003 he praised the IRA, saying "It's about time we started honouring those people involved in the armed struggle. It was the bombs and bullets and sacrifice made by the likes of Bobby Sands that brought Britain to the negotiating table. The peace we have now is due to the action of the IRA". He later said that the "deaths of innocent civilians in IRA attacks is a real tragedy, but it was as a result of British occupation in Ireland. Because of the bravery of the IRA and people like Bobby Sands we now have a peace process" (see[2]). Tony Blair refused to expel him from the Labour Party.

McDonnell is a leader member of a number of all-party groups within Parliament, including groups representing individual trade unions, such as PCS, RMT, FBU, the NUJ and Justice Unions such as Napo, as well as groups on a wide range of issues such as Britain's Irish community, the Punjabi community, endometriosis, and Kenya.

McDonnell chairs the Labour Representation Committee (see[3]), a left-wing group of Labour activists, local parties, trade unions and MPs which campaigns for the adoption of a raft of socialist policies by the Labour Government. The group was founded on Saturday 3 July 2004 and currently has over 800 members and 90 affiliates.

McDonnell is the chair of Public Services Not Private Profit (see [4]), an anti-privatisation campaign which brings together 16 trade unions and several campaigning organisations such as the World Development Movement, Defend Council Housing and The National Pensioners Convention. The campaign has the support of over 90 MPs (see[5]). The campaign held a mass rally and lobby of Parliament on 27 June 2006 attended by over two thousand trade unionists (see[6]). Ex-minsters Frank Dobson and Michael Meacher were among those who addressed the rally.

On 14 July 2006, McDonnell announced he would stand against current Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown to be leader of the Labour Party when Tony Blair announces his resignation. He called for "a challenge to the present political consensus" and a "a real Labour government based upon the policies that our supporters expect from us" (see[7], [8]).

As chair of both the Labour Representation Committee and the Socialist Campaign Group of 24 Labour MPs, he has formal bases to work from.

On 22 July 2006, the annual conference of the Labour Representation Committee unanimously endorsed John McDonnell's leadership bid. The conference was attended by 400 Labour party members and trade unionists.

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