Labour’s Lisa Nandy And John McDonnell Fight On TV Over Sunak Attack Ads

Two Labour MPs have had a fall-out on national TV over the party’s controversial attack adverts on Rishi Sunak.

Labour has been accused of “gutter politics” over Twitter posters attacking the prime minister – the first suggesting the Tory leader wants to spare child sex abusers from prison.

On ITV’s Peston on Wednesday night, frontbencher Lisa Nandy and John McDonnell, the ex-shadow chancellor and ally of former leader Jeremy Corbyn, tore strips out of each other over the campaign.

McDonnell, who has previously tweeted his unease over the ads, told Nandy that “this is not you” as he suggested the party could “win the case without personalising it”.

Nandy responded that she will “not take lessons from you about civility in politics”, and cited the anti-Semitism row that engulfed the party under Corbyn.

McDonnell: “I know you Lisa, this is not you. This is not you. You never go for the person in this individual way. You go for the facts and you go for the policy issue.”

Nandy: “The facts are there.”

McDonnell: “The facts are there. But the reference with regard to Rishi is unacceptable, and take Michelle Obama’s advice – when they go low – and that’s exactly what Braverman did and Rishi has done as well – we go high. We’re better than them, You know that and you are as well.”

Nandy: “Can I just gently say to you, John, first of all, I don’t accept that the prime minister of this country shouldn’t take responsibility …”

McDonnell: “Nobody’s arguing that.”

Nandy: “Secondly, can I just say to you, you were a senior member of the Labour Party when we were found to have breached equalities law by the Equality and Human Rights Commission and brought us to our lowest point in our 100 year history.

“So I will not take lessons from you about civility in politics.”

McDonnell: “I’m not trying to lessen you or anything like that … on that issue, we did address it and we held our hands up to go and address it as well, including me, and I apologised.

“But on this, you don’t do this. This is not Labour politics. We’re better than this and we can argue and win the case without personalising it around an individual that way because it undermines our argument.”

Labour was being monitored by the EHRC equalities watchdog until February after making the changes demanded over its handling of anti-Semitism under Corbyn.

The commission had been scrutinising the party since ruling it was responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination in 2019.

Keir Starmer, Corbyn’s successor as party leader, said in the aftermath that his predecessor was barred from standing as a Labour candidate at the next general election.

This month, a Labour tweet accused the prime minister of not supporting the jailing of child sex offenders.

It was based on Ministry of Justice figures showing that 4,500 such offenders had avoided jail since 2010 – five years before the prime minister even became an MP.

The next post on Twitter suggested the Conservative Party is weak on firearms offences, and more have followed.

HuffPost UK revealed how the catalyst for the ad campaign was a letter from Dominic Raab suggesting courts jail fewer criminals because of prison overcrowding.