EXCL John McDonnell war games expert 'in talks about job in Jeremy Corbyn office'
3 min read
A crisis management expert who will 'war game' the prospect of a run on the Pound if Labour wins the next election is in talks about taking a job in Jeremy Corbyn's office, PoliticsHome understands.
Richard Barbrook - who founded the 'Class Wargames group and was behind the Corbyn Run computer game - is in line for a part-time role teaching shadow ministers how to respond to major events.
It comes after Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell revealed Dr Barbrook was drawing up scenario plans for various possible crises triggered by a Labour win.
Speaking at a fringe event at the Labour conference in Brighton, he said: "It tries to answer the question about what happens when or if they come for us. What if there is a run on the Pound? What happens if there is this concept of capital flight? I don’t think there will be but you never know so we’ve got to scenario-plan for that."
A spokesman for Mr McDonnell tried to distance himself from Dr Barbrook today, saying: "This was an exercise not done by us but by members. The scenarios were to deal with numerous events such as national disasters and acts of terror that could occur under any government."
But contradicting that version of events, a source close to Dr Barbrook told PoliticsHome: "What we had was a meeting where we talked through with the Treasury team about possible scenarios."
They added that the prospect of an official job for Dr Barbrook in Mr Corbyn's office within the next couple of months was likely.
The first crisis training session will be with the shadow Treasury team and Mr McDonnell is likely to watch from the sidelines to assess how they do.
A run on the Pound, an exodus of investors and a financial crash like the one that struck the global economy in 2008 are the types of scenarios the team will try to respond to.
Experts from Nato, the civil service and other organisations will be brought in as the sessions extend to other shadow teams.
"You can't predict the future but what you can do is simulate some of the possible responses," the source explained.
A spokesman for the Leader's office said: "We don't comment on staffing matters." But a source hinted that there was nothing in the claims of an official job.
'WE HAVE GOT TO LOOK AT ALL THESE THINGS'
Today Mr Corbyn dismissed suggestions that a Labour win at the next general election would trigger a run on the Pound.
But he said: "In the Treasury, there is a whole team of brilliant people looking at speculation against the pound and runs on the pound that might affect our economy.
"John is making the point that we have got to look at all these things and all these scenarios."
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