John McDonnell claims Labour MPs weren’t ignoring him during his Autumn Statement response – they were staring at their phones because they were TWEETING about his speech
Shadow Chancellor tried to play down the pictures of a host of Labour colleagues glued to their devices
THE SHADOW Chancellor tried to claim his own MPs weren’t ignoring him as he responded to the Autumn Statement - by saying they were on their phones because they were tweeting about his speech.
John McDonnell made the absurd comments as he tried to play down the pictures of a host of Labour colleagues glued to their devices as soon as he stood up in the Commons yesterday.
He was ridiculed for not even being able to hold the attention of those on his own side, and admitted this morning “it doesn’t look good”.
But he attempted to explain it away with the bizarre suggestion the MPs were busy posting on social media about his attacks on Philip Hammond as he responded to the Chancellor.
Mr McDonnell told Sky News: “It doesn’t look brilliant but that’s what they do now and they have to think themselves.
“The new style in parliament at the moment is people are tweeting all the time. They’re doing a running commentary on what’s going on. It doesn’t look good, but that’s what happens.”
He added: “It’s interesting because everybody’s got these new handheld devices all the time, they’re tweeting all the time, but interestingly enough the general response to the points I was making was received quite well within parliament and outside.
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And it’s interesting – I’ve never seen this before and this is not me boasting – if you looked at the MPs opposite me and those behind, I held their attention.
“Even though they’re tweeting, they’re tweeting about what I’m saying.”
He failed to hide his displeasure with his Parliamentary comrades, saying he was not sure how MPs playing with their phones during speeches went "down with the general public".
Mr McDonnell went to criticise his opposite number for failing to get to grips with Brexit, saying he was worried about the £60billion blackhole it is forecast to leave in the public finances.
And he attacked the Prime Minister for not opening up about its plan for leaving the EU, blaming Theresa May's secrecy about her intentions for worsening the economic damage from the referendum result.