SHADOW chancellor John McDonnell has said he is willing to work with Tony Blair to heal divisions within Labour.
Mr McDonnell had already offered to meet arch-critic Lord Peter Mandelson for a cup of tea and has now extended that invite to Labour’s former prime minister.
He also insisted Jeremy Corbyn will lead Labour into the 2020 General Election as he said possible leadership successors needed to gain “more experience”.
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Mr McDonnell, one of Mr Corbyn’s closest allies, had hit out at Mr Blair and Lord Mandelson in the run up to the Copeland and Stoke by-elections after the pair made high-profile interventions.
Mr Mandelson said he was working “every single day” to bring Mr Corbyn’s leadership to an end.
Mr McDonnell then claimed a “soft coup” to oust the leader was under way.
When asked on The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One who was leading the coup, Mr McDonnell said there were a “number of people” within the party who were “stirring” ahead of the two by-elections.
Mr McDonnell added: “There must have been people on the end of that line and the end of that email chain to receive it.
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“Actually, what is interesting, as I say, I think we have all looked over the edge on Copeland and we have decided we need to unite
the party now and yes, I will be having a cup of tea with Peter Mandelson.”
When asked if he would also be willing to have a cup of tea with Mr Blair, he said: “Of course. I am willing to talk to anybody. We need advice from everybody.”
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