Labour's John McDonnell says Sajid Javid is unfit to be chancellor

LABOUR'S John McDonnell has sparked outrage by claiming that Sajid Javid was unfit to be chancellor.

McDonnell has also urged Boris Johnson to launch a probe over Javid's financial career, saying he had traded in a "particularly dangerous" type of debt that played a role in the 2008 financial crash.

In a letter to the prime minister on Monday (5), McDonnell wrote: “Mr Javid’s widely reported implication in some of the worst excesses of the casino economy, defending the sale of high-risk financial products that contributed to the 2008 crisis, calls into question whether he can be trusted with the secure stewardship of the nation’s finances.

“It will not be lost on those that have suffered the consequences of the last nine years of austerity following the 2008 financial crisis that the newly appointed chancellor profited from the greed that contributed to it."

Before his election as the Conservative MP for Bromsgrove in 2010, Javid had an 18-year career in the City.

McDonnell also demanded that Javid publish his tax returns, and questioned whether the chancellor benefited from a tax avoidance scheme while at Deutsche Bank.

A Conservative Party spokesman said: “Frankly, Labour might want to use the time better thinking about their own credentials for governing.

“Not content with antisemitism being rife in their party and their totally incoherent Brexit policy, the only threat to the UK economy is them.

“Their reckless plans would see debt soaring as they spend one thousand billion pounds, tax raids on hard-working families, and upheaval of our economic system by replacing key posts such as the governor of the Bank of England with their hard-left choices. Utter disaster.

“If any party knows about failure and bogus investigations, it’s them.”