John McDonnell John McDonnell John Martin McDonnell (born 8 September 1951) is a British Labour Party politician who was appointed the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in September 2015. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hayes and Harlington since the 1997 general election. He has served as chair of the Socialist Campaign Group in Parliament and the Labour Representation Committee, and was the chair of the Public Services Not Private Profit Group. He is also parliamentary convenor of the Trade Union Co-ordinating Group of eight left-wing trade unions representing over half a million workers. McDonnell attempted to stand for
Exchequer of Pleas by the 1230s, became a royal appointment holding the seal independently of the Lord Chancellor, known as the Chancellor of the Exchequer. After 1567 the Chancellor was additionally confirmed as the Under-Treasurer of the Exchequer, allowing him to carry out the Treasurer's duties when he was unavailable. The Chancellor was appointed by letters patent, and until 1672 it was a life appointment, then changed to an office "to hold only during the pleasures of the crown". Until the English Civil War the Chancellor of the Exchequer was a judicial office with little political standing; after the War, however, it became