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Labour’s shadow Chancellor admits he’s a “jammy dodger.”

John McDonnell was referring to his choice of biscuit, but some in the Labour Party would argue it could be applied more generally to his career.

For decades he and his closest ally Jeremy Corbyn were part of a small group of hard-left MPs on the margins of the party.

Tomorrow they will cement their control of the Labour machine if, as expected, Mr Corbyn storms to victory in the leadership race.

Some are predicting his winning margin over Owen Smith could be bigger than his triumph in last year’s contest.

(Image: Rowan Griffiths)

Barely troubling to disguise his delight at the expected result, Mr McDonnell is now focusing on the next stage of the Corbyn leadership.

He claims there is nothing to stop Labour sweeping back into power if the party unites around the leader.

Speaking to the Mirror on the eve of the party conference, he says the party can come together again after the bruising leadership contest and will then be in a position to win a snap general election.

He accepts there have a “few harsh words” exchanged during the leadership battle but there will an intensive effort to win back those MPs who resigned from the frontbench earlier this summer.

(Image: Rowan Griffiths)

“We have said to them ‘what was said on tour remains on tour and that’s it’,” he said.

Many former Shadow Cabinet members, including Mr Smith, have already said they will not serve under Mr Corbyn again, while others say they will only come back if shadow Cabinet elections re-instated.

But Mr McDonnell is upbeat about being able to assemble a frontbench team and is planning a “tea offensive” to persuade the rebels to come back.

A “large proportion” of the MPs who rebelled will serve in some form, he predicted.

Asked if this could include Hilary Benn, the former shadow Foreign Secretary, he replied: “Of course, we have not put any exclusions down whatsoever.

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"If people want to serve it’s for them. Jeremy makes the final decisions on shadow cabinet but we have had a open door to everyone.”

“We have been talking to people throughout and we have maintained relatively cordial relationships and quite a number of people now over the past couple of weeks have been coming back to us to talk about how they can serve and what role they can play.

“It’s encouraging. After the result, if Jeremy wins it, it’s an open door policy to everyone then.

"We will be talking to as many people as possible, saying to people ‘let’s have a cup of tea’ and can we try not to communicate by Twitter, it’s not the most constructive way of communicating, so let’s have a cup of tea and sit down and that will go on intensively over the next couple of weeks,” he said.

(Image: Getty)

However, the shadow Chancellor was noticeably lukewarm about the immediate return of shadow Cabinet elections, saying it was still under discussion.

He rejected the idea this could be a “deal breaker” for some of his former colleagues.

The usually pugnacious Mr McDonnell also accepted the leadership needed to learn from mistakes made in Mr Corbyn’s first year as leader.

He promised there would be better access for those who wanted to speak to the leader and they would make the way they communicate “more professional.”

But he did not hide his frustration with the rebels who tried to oust Mr Corbyn in the wake of the EU referendum .

(Image: Ian Vogler/Daily Mirror)

He said their “panic” derailed Labour’s recovery just as it was starting to take the fight to the Tories.

“In terms of electability we were there,” he insists. “In the first year we were laying the foundations for electoral success. We were going according to plan.

“We have now been forced back in the polls as a result of what’s been going on since the coup started.

"But it just demonstrates you get the coup out of the way, you unite again and you pick up the pace again and within months we will be ahead of the Tories because within the months the Tories will start falling out over Brexit again or grammar schools,” he said.

Despite Theresa May ruling out a general election before 2020, Mr McDonnell believes she could still hold a snap poll this spring.

(Image: Rowan Griffiths)

And he is “absolutely convinced” Labour could win it.

“f we can unite quickly and come back together. We will have the policy programme, we will have a united party I hope and we will have the campaigning vehicle, the electoral machine, bigger and better than anything in Europe,” he said.

So he genuinely thinks he could be Chancellor of Exchequer by June if Mrs May went to the country?

“Yeah, and that’s why there is a sense of urgency of getting our act together very quickly.

“Bring it on. If they want a general election let’s have a general election. If we can unite as a party quickly we can take them on.

"And I am convinced we have the policies that will convince people to support us,” he said.

Quick fire

(Image: Rowan Griffiths)

Bake Off or Strictly?

Bake Off but with Ed Balls there I am deeply loyal to him on Strictly.

Beer or wine?

Beer

Tony Blair or Gordon Brown

Tough one. I have always had a good relationship with Gordon Brown.

Would you rather sing the Red Flag or the National Anthem?

I am Red Flag singer but I do sing the National Anthem, I sing Jerusalem quite a lot as well.

Steak or nut roast?

I am steak person. This is terrible, Jeremy’s never going to speak to me again.