John McDonnell blundered today as he said he did not need to know key economic figures – because he had an iPad.
The shadow chancellor used the extraordinary excuse as he struggled to explain why he was unable to say how much it cost to service government debt.
He also floundered as he was repeatedly pressed on the up-front bill for Labour’s massive nationalisation drive – but merely insisted it would ‘pay for itself’.
The painful exchanges came as Mr McDonnell gave a post-Budget interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Pushed on the cost of Labour’s borrowing plans in an interview today, Mr McDonnell said it was the ‘wrong question’
Presenter Mishal Husain asked the veteran left-winger why he had ‘struggled’ in another interview when he was challenged to give a figure for the cost of servicing the government’s huge debt pile.
Mr McDonnell blustered about the ‘trite form of journalism’ that demanded politicians give specific figures about crucial parts of their work.
He argued that he did not need to have such figures in his mind.
‘That is why we have iPads and advisers etc,’ he added.
Pushed on the cost of Labour’s borrowing plans, Mr McDonnell said it was the ‘wrong question’.
On the proposed nationalisation of swathes of the energy, water and rail markets – which experts have suggested could cost £120billion – Mr McDonnell merely said it would ‘pay for itself’.
Labour frontbenchers have suffered interview car crashes about figures in the past.
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott memorably had a meltdown during the general election campaign when she suggested recruiting 10,000 more police would cost £300,000.
Jeremy Corbyn was also unable to give a figure for the cost of offering free childcare to two-year-olds during an interview for BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour.
As he desperately tried to fire up his own iPad, Mr Corbyn stuttered: ‘It will cost… it will obviously cost a lot to do so we accept that.’
Meanwhile, ministers have been defending Philip Hammond’s flagship Budget tax cut to help young people get onto the property ladder, after the official economic watchdog warned it could simply drive up house prices.
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott (pictured) memorably had a meltdown during the election campaign when she suggested recruiting 10,000 more police would cost £300,000
Jeremy Corbyn was also unable to give a figure for the cost of offering free childcare to two-year-olds during an interview for BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour (pictured)
The Chancellor abolished stamp duty for first-time buyers on properties worth up to £300,000 as part of a giveaway package which pumped an additional £25 billion into priorities such as housing, infrastructure and the NHS.
But the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) took the shine off the move by predicting it would push up prices by around 0.3% – meaning many first-time buyers would have to pay more than they otherwise would while the main gainers would be people who already owned a property.
Treasury Chief Secretary Liz Truss insisted the forecast rise in prices was no more than a ‘minor increase’.
While she acknowledged that ultimately the way to get more people onto the property ladder was to build more houses, she said the Government also wanted to offer short-term help to people who had been struggling for years to buy a home.
‘I think the main gainers are people who will now be able to buy their own home and get on the housing ladder,’ she told BBC2’s Newsnight.
‘Of course we need to increase the supply of homes. But we really felt it was necessary to do something now to help those who have struggled for a number of years. That is what this measure is about.’