Labour’s shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland last night moved to distance himself from extraordinary 30-year-old comments by shadow Chancellor John McDonnell in which he joked about IRA violence.
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Labour’s shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland last night moved to distance himself from extraordinary 30-year-old comments by shadow Chancellor John McDonnell in which he joked about IRA violence.
The Times on Friday revealed that in 1986 the then backbench Labour MP told a south-east London meeting attended by a Sinn Fein councillor that Labour councillors who boycotted the event because of the presence of the IRA’s political wing could be shot in the knees.
The attempt at humour was last night denounced by a representative of IRA victims as “sick”.
According to The Times, Mr McDonnell also called for the “ballot, the bullet and the bomb” to be used to unite Ireland.
According to a contemporaneous newspaper report uncovered by The Times, the veteran left-wing MP said that the Labour councillors boycotting the event were “gutless wimps” but that “kneecapping might help change their mind”.
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