Cometh the hour, cometh John McDonnell, the man with a plan | John Crace

The shadow chancellor was like a news anchor reading a list of casualties as he rattled off the catastrophes of austerity Not so long ago, no one felt obliged to take much notice of a pre-budget speech from John McDonnell. The Labour shadow chancellor was free to suggest almost anything he wanted – nationalisation of the Isle of Man, an SAS assault on Bermuda – and no one would bat an eye because there didn’t seem to be a chance of him ever getting the top job. It was just John