City profiles

John McDonnell Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has led a varied working life, says Oliver Shah in The Sunday Times. The Liverpudlian trained to be a Catholic priest before dropping out to work at Birds Eye, Silentnight (“I hope no one’s got any of my mattresses,” he jokes) and Philips, where he made TVs (“the job title was ‘exposer’ – try travelling with that on your passport”). In person, McDonnell is charming and emollient, and his “nimbleness” has won him some unlikely admirers. “He’s very impressive,” says Paul Drechsler, the former president of the CBI. “I’ve seen him address a dinner audience and, for 95% of the time, you’d have followed him out of the room. Then an interesting combination of Karl Marx, Lenin and Trotsky pops out and it reminds you…

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The Week United Kingdom (Digital) - 1 Issue, V. 1236

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