'You’re nauseating!' John McDonnell and Alastair Campbell in FURIOUS clash in TV debate
JOHN MCDONNELL and Alastair Campbell were involved in a heated clash as they accused each other of destroying the Labour Party.
Campbell and McDonnell CLASH over Labour future
Tony Blair’s former spin doctor and Jeremy Corbyn’s right-hand man traded insults as Mr McDonnell called Mr Campbell “nauseating” after he described the rise of Mr Corbyn as a “disaster” for the Labour Party.
Speaking on BBC’s Question Time, the former director of communications for Labour defended Mr Blair’s time as prime minister.
He said: “I certainly don’t put everything at the door of Jeremy Corbyn, I think that would be really unfair.
“I think there are issues going back to when we were in power, Iraq being the most obvious in terms of policy but also things like tuition fees which were very difficult for a lot of people.
I worry that you and yours are destroying Labour
“We lost support but don’t forget we won an election after Iraq and the second thing I would say is that what Tony Blair always tried to do was to understand that most people are not living in the political bubble we live in.
“He always had an understanding of that and I think there’s a real danger at the moment that we are losing that.”
Mr Campbell went on to describe the shift in Labour’s politics as a “disaster”.
A furious Mr McDonnell interrupting said: “It’s nauseating because you are the one, above all else, who actually created the environment where no-one believed a word a political said.
“You lost us five million votes in that process and set up to fail.”
Mr Campbell rebuked: “We won three general elections, John.”
Mr Corbyn’s right-hand man continued: “The reason Jeremy was elected because people wanted some honesty back in politics.”
This clearly angered Mr Campbell, as the Question Time audience applauded Mr McDonnell’s comments.
He replied: “Look, John, I’ve come on here to be as nice to you as I possibly can.
“I care about the Labour Party. I worry that you and yours are destroying it. I actually worry that you don’t even care.”
Still yet to be stopped by presenter David Dimbleby, the pair carried on with their ferocious row.
Speaking over his political rival, Mr McDonnell said: “We’re trying to restore honesty and confidence in politics again that you destroyed.”
Anna Soubry calls John McDonnell "nasty piece of work"
Mr Campbell responded by calling Mr McDonnell “unbelievable” and listed New Labour’s achievements, such as the Minimum Wage.
He continued: “I get why newspapers like the Daily Mail want to trash Tony Blair. We won elections and they’re a right wing newspaper. I understand why the Tories want to trash New Labour because we beat them three times.
“But when the Labour Party’s doing it, it’s utterly ridiculous”
To finish the clash, the former spin doctor branded it “part of the revolutionary posh boy madness that has taken this party over”.
During an eventful Question Time appearance for Mr McDonnell, he was also called a “nasty piece of work” by Tory MP Anna Soubry.
The former Cabinet minister claimed Labour MPs were “at the point of being terrorised by McDonnell and his cronies”.