How best to deal with the John McDonnell clusterf*ck? Send Diane Abbott onto the Daily Politics to defend him, of course! Diane began by insisting McDonnell never signed the ‘disband MI5′ letter and that the story “may well not be true”. Before being confronted with a photo of him holding it: “I’m sure he’ll be clarifying it very shortly…”

UPDATE: McDonnell’s spokesperson has released a statement of apology:

“John posed in good faith to stand with a copy of what he thought were the principles he signed up to and not the demands which he had seen before yesterday. To reiterate John does not share these views. Only this week he has called for additional funding for the security services to support them in their vital work in defending our country.”

Well that clears that up then…