‘I look like I’ve gone a few rounds with Muhammad Ali’ - John McDonnell reveals bruises after tripping over rubbish
2 min read
Labour's John McDonnell has said he feels like he went a "few rounds with Muhammad Ali" after falling over some fly-tipped rubbish and badly bruising his face.
The Labour heavyweight denied he had been brawling with his parliamentary colleagues as he revealed a heavily-bruised face ahead of a major speech on the Budget.
Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme, the Shadow Chancellor said he looked like had “gone a few rounds" with the boxing legend after tripping over rubbish dumped at the end of his street after a meeting with MPs.
He said: “I came out the Parliamentary Labour Party on Monday which was very good.
"Went home, got off the bus and I’m rushing home, it’s pretty dark and someone has fly tipped at the end of my road, so I missed it and I literally landed on my face. I thought I’d broken my nose and teeth. “
He joked: “I’ve been working from home for the past few days, but literally this is an improvement on what it was. Well, some people think it was an improvement overall.”
The bruised Labour frontbencher will later today call on Philip Hammond to take "large scale action" to end austerity rather than relying on “vague promises for the future or a few financial conjuring tricks”.
“What I am doing today is trying to set the tone for next week," he told Today.
"The Prime Minister has said that austerity is coming to an end so I am trying to say: ‘What does that mean? What will the Chancellor mean by that?’
"If she is simply saying no further cuts, how much will that cost?”
The opposition says argues that Mr Hammond - who is under pressure to fund a major boost to NHS spending and plough money back into the Universal Credit welfare reform - will need to spend £19bn to stop fresh cuts to departmental spending that are already on the cards.
The party meanwhile says that £7bn will be needed to shelve planned welfare cuts, with an addition £17bn needed to undo reductions made since the Conservatives came to power in 2010.
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