Jeremy Corbyn has said it is “right to look at all these scenarios” after John McDonnell said Labour might have to prepare for a run on the pound if it became the government.
The Labour leader told the BBC the shadow chancellor was right to be prepared for people taking money out of the country.
McDonnell last night told a fringe meeting near the Labour Party conference in Brighton that “war game-type scenario-planning” was being undertaken.
“What if there is a run on the pound? What happens if there is this concept of capital flight? I don’t think there will be but you never know so we’ve got to scenario-plan for that,” he said.
Corbyn used a separate interview with Sky News to insist “it’s worth thinking all these things through”.
A spokesperson for McDonnell said: “This was an exercise not done by us but by members. The scenarios were to deal with numerous events such as national disasters and acts of terror that could occur under any government.”
One source told HuffPost: “It was more that others had done it [wargaming] than us,” the source said.
McDonnell’s comments echo those of shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon.
He told another fringe meeting at the conference that attacks from the media and others would be even worse should Jeremy Corbyn become prime minister.
“All the hell of the establishment, wherever it’s found will be unleashed on us,” he warned.