About John McDonnell
John Martin McDonnell (born 8 September 1951) is a British Labour Party politician who served as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2015 to 2020. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hayes and Harlington since 1997. He formerly had the Labour whip withdrawn and was suspended from the party on 23 July 2024 as a result of voting to scrap the two child benefit cap. McDonnell is on the political left and a member of the Socialist Campaign Group. He stood for the position of Labour Party leader following Tony Blair's resignation in 2007, but failed to reach the required number of nominations. He was a candidate for the party leadership again in 2010 following Gordon Brown's resignation after Labour's electoral defeat, but withdrew in favour of Diane Abbott, feeling that he would be unable to secure enough nominations. Alongside Jeremy Corbyn, McDonnell has been seen as a major figure on the left wing of the party. After being elected Labour leader in 2015, Corbyn appointed McDonnell to his Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. As Shadow Chancellor, McDonnell pledged to increase spending on infrastructure and research, describing his vision for the economy as "socialism with an iPad". The group was founded on Saturday, 3 July 2004, and currently has more than 800 members and 90 affiliates. When Terry Dicks then stood down, McDonnell became the MP for Hayes and Harlington at the 1997 general election, with 62 per cent of the vote and a majority of over 14,000.
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