Jeremy Corbyn snubbed by former Labour minister because he 'hates capitalism'

Jeremy Corbyn was snubbed today when a former minister in Gordon Brown’s “Government of All the Talents” said he could not work for the Left-winger.

Digby Jones, who was trade minister in the last Labour government, told the Evening Standard he could not work for a man who “doesn’t understand business” and “hates capitalism”.

Lord Jones, 61, a crossbencher in the Lords, also said that shadow chancellor John McDonnell did not seem to grasp how government bonds worked, while shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey “doesn’t understand you have to make money before you can pay for schools and hospitals”.

A second member of Mr Brown’s “Goats” — experts from outside party politics or Whitehall who were appointed ministers — also snubbed Mr Corbyn.

Lord West, the former security minister, doubted that he could serve in a Corbyn government because he would be “surprised” if they could agree on how to protect Britain. “I would have to think very hard,” said the former head of the Navy and Falklands war hero. “I would have to have a very long talk with Mr Corbyn.”

Lord West, 69, who sits in the Lords as a Labour peer, said: “I would be surprised if his ideas of what is required for the security and defence of the nation tallied with what I believe is necessary.”

The strong reservations of the pair came after dozens of Labour MPs declined posts in Mr Corbyn’s front bench team because they felt his views were too extreme.

Lord Jones, a former head of the Confederation of British Industry, and Lord West were senior ministers during Mr Brown’s attempt to create a government formed from the very best in their field of expertise.

Lord Jones said: “If I was asked to do something with Mr Corbyn as prime minister I would refuse. I would refuse because he wouldn’t make judgments on business grounds. He hates capitalism.”

Of Mr McDonnell, he said: “He said to Andrew Marr, ‘We’re going to nationalise water companies — but we’re not going to borrow, we are going to issue bonds’. This man wants to run the fifth biggest economy on Earth and yet he doesn’t understand that a government bond has to be repaid one day.”

Of Ms Long-Bailey, he said: “I heard her on Question Time and I thought, ‘This woman doesn’t get it.’ ”