John McDonnell

John McDonnell was born in Liverpool and raised in Norfolk. On leaving school John worked on the shopfloor as a production worker. After studying at nightschool he went to University and subsequently became a trade union official with the NUM and later with TUC.

In 1981, he was elected to the Greater London Council as the member for Hayes and Harlington. John became Chair of Finance, responsible for the GLC’s £3billion budget. After the abolition of the GLC he became Head of Policy at Camden Council and was Chief Executive of the Association of London Government before being elected in 1997 as the Labour MP for Hayes & Harlington, West London.

In September 2015, under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, he was appointed Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Claim the Future was initiated by John McDonnell MP, with the support of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung London. The project aims to ask and answer some of the questions that the pandemic has raised about the economy and society we want to live in and what future there should be for our planet and to link new thinking with campaigning and action on the ground.