John McDonnell Net Worth 2023, Age, Wife, Children, Height, Family, Parents, Salary, MP

John McDonnell net worth

Read about John McDonnell net worth, age, wife, children, height, family, parents, salary, and party as well as other information you need to know.

Introduction

John McDonnell is a British politician who served as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2015 to 2020. A member of the Labour Party, he has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Hayes and Harlington since 1997. McDonnell served as chair of the Socialist Campaign Group in Parliament and the Labour Representation Committee; he also chaired the Public Services Not Private Profit Group.

McDonnell is also parliamentary convenor of the Trade Union Co-ordinating Group of eight left-wing trade unions representing over half a million workers. McDonnell attempted to stand for the position of Labour Party leader following Tony Blair’s resignation in 2007 but failed to get enough nominations. He was a candidate for the party leadership again in 2010 following Gordon Brown’s resignation after Labour’s electoral defeat, but withdrew in favour of Diane Abbott, feeling that he would be unable to secure enough nominations.

He has been seen as a key figure on the left wing of the party alongside Jeremy Corbyn. After being elected Labour leader in 2015, Corbyn appointed McDonnell to his Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. As Shadow Chancellor, McDonnell pledged to increase spending on infrastructure and research, describing his vision for the economy as “socialism with an iPad”.

Early life

NameJohn McDonnell
Net Worth$5 million
OccupationPolitician
Age71 years
Height1.75m
John McDonnell net worth

John Martin McDonnell was born on September 8, 1951 (age 71 years) in Liverpool, United Kingdom. He is the son of a family with an Irish Catholic background. His father, Bob, was a docker who also served as a sergeant in the Sherwood Foresters during World War II, whilst his mother Elsie worked as a cleaner.

McDonnell moved with his family to his mother’s hometown, Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, when he was very young as his father was unable to find work at the docks; his father became a bus driver and was a branch secretary of the Transport and General Workers’ Union and his mother worked for British Home Stores. McDonnell attended Great Yarmouth Grammar School. He received a Local Authority grant to attend St Joseph’s College, Ipswich, a Roman Catholic boarding fee-paying independent school for boys (now co-educational). McDonnell is now irreligious but refers to himself as a “cultural Catholic” and is a regular churchgoer.

McDonnell failed his A-levels at grammar school, partly due to holding down part-time jobs in bars and a bingo hall. Upon leaving education, McDonnell held a series of unskilled jobs. After marrying his first wife, he returned to A-level studies at night school at Burnley Technical College, and at the age of 23, he moved to Hayes in Greater London, attended Brunel University, and earned a bachelor’s degree in government and politics. During this period, he helped his wife run a small children’s home in Hayes, and was active on behalf of his local community and for the National Union of Public Employees.

After completing his master’s degree in politics and sociology at Birkbeck, University of London, he became a researcher and official with the National Union of Mineworkers from 1977 to 1978, and later the Trades Union Congress from 1978 until 1982. From 1985 to 1987, McDonnell was head of the policy unit at Camden Borough Council, then chief executive of the Association of London Authorities from 1987 to 1995, and the Association of London Government from 1995 until 1997.

Political career

John McDonnell was elected in 1981 to the Greater London Council (GLC) as a member for Hayes and Harlington. He became the GLC’s chair of finance and deputy leader to Ken Livingstone, who described him as having an “absolute grasp for detail and every year he produced a balanced budget, no borrowing”.

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McDonnell was sacked by Ken Livingstone in 1985 over the strategy to oppose rate-capping—Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government had capped council rates (now called council tax), an action which the GLC had claimed, based on figures calculated by McDonnell, would lead to £135 million in cuts. However, Livingstone claimed in his autobiography to have found that the authority could actually still increase spending and cap the rates.

Livingstone said that McDonnell had ‘exaggerated’ spending figures to support his case that the GLC had to ignore the rates cap, and that he confronted McDonnell, saying “If these figures are right we’re going to look like the biggest fucking liars since Goebbels.” McDonnell described Livingstone’s account as “complete fiction”.

In an interview with Ronan Bennett for The Guardian newspaper, he described his role during this time as being “to translate policies into concrete realities on the ground.” He further discussed his performance by indicating, “I was a fairly hard-nosed administrator. We set in train policies for which we were attacked from all sides but are now accepted as mainstream: large-scale investment in public services; raising the issue of Ireland and arguing for a dialogue for peace; equal opportunities; police accountability. We set up a women’s committee, an ethnic minorities committee.”

John McDonnell was employed as head of the policy unit at Camden London Borough Council following the abolition of the GLC in 1986. In 1987, he became Chief Executive of the Association of London Authorities (eventually the Association of London Government), where he represented all the London boroughs in their relations with the central government and Europe.

Having previously unsuccessfully contested Hampstead and Highgate in 1983, McDonnell fought for his home constituency of Hayes and Harlington at the 1992 general election but lost by 53 votes, after three recounts, to the Conservative incumbent, Terry Dicks. During the campaign, Dicks sued for libel over critical material in McDonnell’s campaign leaflets; McDonnell settled and paid Dicks damages of £15,000 plus legal costs of £55,000.

John McDonnell would later refer to Dicks as a ‘stain’ on the character of the House of Commons and a stain on the Conservative Party, and a ‘malignant creature’ during his maiden parliamentary speech. When Terry Dicks then stood down, McDonnell became the MP for Hayes and Harlington at the 1997 general election, with 62 percent of the vote and a majority of over 14,000.

McDonnell made his maiden speech in the House of Commons on 6 June 1997, where he notably launched a scathing attack against his predecessor, against parliamentary tradition. He has been involved in several local community campaigns, including one opposing the expansion of Heathrow Airport and its impact on local communities. He opposed New Labour policies of the Iraq War, foundation hospitals, student top-up fees, trust schools and anti-terror laws. When Ken Livingstone was elected Mayor of London, as an independent in 2000, he appointed McDonnell to his cabinet with responsibility for local government in London.

On 14 July 2006, McDonnell announced his intention to stand for the leadership of the Labour Party when Tony Blair announced the date of his resignation. He called for “a challenge to the present political consensus”, and, “a real Labour government based upon the policies that our supporters expect from us”. McDonnell said he would like to see a return to the Labour Party’s more traditional areas.

John McDonnell and Michael Meacher were the two candidates representing the left wing of the party. McDonnell’s campaign concentrated on grassroots efforts, which earned him an endorsement from the Trades Union Congress. In a YouGov opinion poll of more than 1,100 Labour Party members asking their preferred choice in the leadership contest, McDonnell received 9% support and was ranked second to Chancellor Gordon Brown, who led with 80% of the vote. Declared supporters included Diane Abbott, Tony Benn, and Ann Cryer. In total, eleven Labour MPs declared their support on McDonnell’s campaign website.

Labour Party rules require candidates to be nominated by 12.5% of Labour MPs (45 out of a total of 355 in 2007). Gordon Brown received 313 (88.2%) nominations, while McDonnell failed to collect the 45 nominations required to proceed to the Electoral College. As the only nominated candidate, Gordon Brown was declared leader by the NEC.

On 18 May 2010, news broke that McDonnell wanted to stand in the Labour Party leadership election, to be held following the resignation of Gordon Brown, and would announce it the following day at the Public and Commercial Services Union conference in Brighton. McDonnell noted that it would be “difficult” to get the 33 nominations needed from the Parliamentary Labour Party required to stand in the election.

During hustings for the GMB Union on 7 June, McDonnell was asked what single act he would do to improve the world if he could travel back to the 1980s. His off-the-cuff reply was that “I was on the GLC that Mrs. Thatcher abolished, I worked for the NUM and we had the NUM strike, I think I would assassinate Thatcher”. Conservative MP Conor Burns told the BBC that “[it was] very distasteful” and “a very silly remark”. McDonnell told the BBC: “I’m sorry if I have caused offense to anyone. It was a joke and in that audience, it was taken as a joke … it was taken out of context, I can see if people are upset about that and if I have caused offense to anyone of course I apologize”.

By 9 June 2010, the deadline for nominations, he had secured only 16 nominations and withdrew from the contest. McDonnell was one of the thirty-six Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn (who was elected as Labour leader with 59.5% of the vote) as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015. McDonnell managed Corbyn’s leadership campaign, and he was appointed Shadow Chancellor in September 2015. In February 2020, McDonnell met with Julian Assange at HM Prison Belmarsh.

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He is running a campaign to pass a motion supporting proportional representation at the 2022 Labour Party conference after it failed in 2021 due to a lack of trade union support. On 24 February 2022, following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, McDonnell was one of 11 Labour MPs threatened with losing the party whip after they signed a statement by the Stop the War Coalition which questioned the legitimacy of NATO and accused the military alliance of “eastward expansion”. All 11 MPs subsequently removed their signatures. He subsequently joined calls for increased arms supplies to Ukraine and criticized those on the left who opposed it.

Wife

John McDonnell is currently married to Cynthia Pinto, they had their wedding in 1995. His wife is a private person and they have a son together. However, John has two daughters with his first wife Marilyn Jean Cooper, they divorced in 1985. In 2013, McDonnell suffered a heart attack and was forced to take time off work. While raised as a Roman Catholic and attending a minor seminary, McDonnell now identifies as an atheist. As of April 2023, John and his wife Cynthia Pinto are still married.

John McDonnell net worth

How much is John McDonnell worth? John McDonnell net worth is estimated at around $5 million. His main source of income is from his primary work as a politician. John McDonnell’s average salary per month and other career earnings are over $400,000 dollars annually. His remarkable achievements have earned him some luxurious lifestyles and some fancy car trips. He is one of the richest and most influential politicians in the United Kingdom. He stands at an appealing height of 1.75m and has a good body weight which suits his personality.

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