2010 Party Leadership Campaign
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. He stated during a speech at the GMB Union Congress on 7 June that he wished he could "go back to the 1980s and assassinate Thatcher" He later apologised for the remark which was described as distasteful and sickening. On 9 June 2010, the deadline for nominations, he had secured 16 nominations and withdrew from the election.
Read more about this topic: John McDonnell (politician)
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