John McDonnell is unafraid to talk of Soviet-style five-year plans and wants a say on the next Bank of England chief

John McDonnell, the softly spoken “street orator” and avowed Marxist intent on colonising the centre ground, is running late. Stephen Kinnock, a persistent Corbyn critic working with the Tories for a softer Brexit, emerges first from his office. A few minutes later comes Ivan Lewis, who resigned from the party the next day in protest at the Labour leader’s failure to address antisemitism.

Mr McDonnell, 67, was once seen as the menace behind Jeremy Corbyn’s grandfatherly charm. In recent months, however, he has emerged as the figure to whom Labour moderates turn for reason. The shadow chancellor is doing his damndest to hold Labour’s dysfunctional family together.

How much did his long spell running a small children’s home with his first wife prepare him for