John McDonnell repeatedly refuses to apologise for calling Tory MP a 'stain on humanity'

Shadow Chancellor says of Esther McVey: 'I'm still angry about the role Esther McVey and her Government played'

John McDonnell has again refused to apologise for calling a Tory minister a "stain on humanity".

The shadow Chancellor has come under pressure to apologise for the remarks, with Labour former frontbencher Yvette Cooper describing them as "really, really not OK".

But Mr McDonnell has acknowledged that a call made by an attendee at a public meeting for Esther McVey to be lynched was not justified, and insisted he was not endorsing it when he later repeated it.

However, in a second successive day of TV questioning on the issue, he refused to back down.

He insisted he was driven by "justifiable anger" over the impact of welfare cuts overseen disabilities minister Esther Ms McVey on vulnerable people, some of whom had taken their own lives after being stripped of benefits.

Mr McDonnell told ITV1's Good Morning Britain: "Let's be absolutely clear, I didn't call for her to be lynched at all. I simply reported what had been shouted at me at a public meeting.

"You have to be honest in politics, you have to express how you feel. And I'm angry still about the role Esther McVey and her Government played."

Asked whether he accepted that it was inappropriate to call for an MP to be lynched, Mr McDonnell said: "Of course, and I wasn't endorsing that. I was reporting what was being said, I wasn't endorsing it at all. I've always distanced myself from that sort of language. I don't believe in any threats of abuse or violence and I've said that continuously."

He added: "I reported what was said but I am not apologising for the words I used in parliamentary debate. Of course you have to be constrained in your language, but also you have to be honest about how you feel. And sometimes there's such a thing as justifiable anger. That doesn't justify words like 'lynching' or anything else but in the parliamentary debate. if you look at my words. you will see it is an honest expression of the anger and anguish I felt in dealing with these families."

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Mr McDonnell said he had repeatedly called on the former minister to carry out an impact assessment of the suffering caused by fitness-for-work tests being imposed on claimants, and she had refused to do so.

Describing how he spoke with the family of a depressed man who committed suicide after losing benefits because he was deemed able to work, he said: "Those people asking me to apologise should go and meet those families and they'll see that I have got a justifiable anger and so have a lot of other people."

Mr McDonnell sparked the controversy on Sunday, just hours after Jeremy Corbyn had called for an end to personal abuse.

Ms McVey was sitting near Mr McDonnell on ITV’s Peston programme when he refused to back down over the comments he once made about her, something which later sparked outrage from Labour’s Yvette Cooper who demanded the shadow chancellor apologise.

It was reported at the time that he repeated words, said by people angry at government policy, which called for Ms McVey to be lynched.

He admitted that he had sometimes “gone too far” in criticism of opponents, but insisted it was better to be honest about his views.

He said: “I was angry. Sometimes you need to express honest anger and that was about what this last government was doing to people with disabilities. It was appalling, to be frank, and sometimes it is better to be honest about how you feel.

“At times, in Parliament in particular, it means using strong language but, actually, if it reflects your honest views, I think it is better to be honest than it is to be in any way deceptive.”

On Saturday, Mr Corbyn said in his victory speech following a leadership contest riddled with claims of abuse and bullying, that personal attacks had “no place” in the Labour party.

Speaking later on Peston, Ms Cooper said: “[Mr McDonnell] should have apologised. He should absolutely have apologised.

“The idea of saying that a woman MP, as Esther was at the time, should be lynched, it’s just wrong.”

Ms Cooper called on Mr McDonnell and Mr Corbyn to use their social media accounts to challenge people who are being abusive.

Ms McVey, who lost her seat in Parliament at the 2015 election, said on Sunday that Mr McDonnell "whips up" a culture of bullying and intimidation.

"This is a man who talks about the struggle through threats, intimidation and bullying," she said. "He doesn't just talk about it. He whips up that culture."