John McDonnell will refuse to move to Downing Street if he becomes Chancellor because he prefers living in West London suburb
The Corbyn ally said he would commute from Hayes to Westminster - shunning the Chancellor's official residence at 11 Downing Street
JOHN McDONNELL has vowed to shun 11 Downing Street if Labour wins power – and spend his evenings in HAYES.
The Shadow Chancellor today said he’d use the official Government residence as an “office” but head home every night to his three-bed home in West London.
He told BBC Newsnight: “The most important thing for me is the community and family that I’m in.
“That’s what I like going back to every night. That’s why when we get elected I won’t be going into No11, I will be staying at home.”
The self-styled Marxist boasts of living in the poorest ward in his Hayes constituency – in a detached house with “messy garden”.
He was elected to serve the area – on the fringes of Heathrow Airport – in 1997.
Hayes’s greatest claim to fame is being the home of EMI – with the words “Hayes, Middlesex” appearing on the reverse of The Beatles’ albums. Other notable residents include George Orwell.
No11 Downing Street – built in 1682 – is famed as the official residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Tony Blair chose to live there instead of No10 when he served as PM as it has a larger living area.
In a wide-ranging interview last night Mr McDonnell separately insisted he could never be friends with a Conservative – saying “I can’t forgive them for what they’ve done”. He reiterated that Labour couldn’t support the current Brexit deal.
He told Newsnight: “We couldn’t support the deal as it now stands.
“We’ll see what comes back at the weekend and consider that in detail – but we can’t support the existing deal.”
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