WikiGuido takes a look at whether John McDonnell could be the next Labour leader in the new issue of Spectator Life. McDonnell’s eighties nickname is also revealed:

McDonnell infamously praised the ‘bombs and bullets’ of the IRA, though his links to Irish republicanism go deeper than words. A party grandee shares a curious tale from the 1980s. The story goes that McDonnell used to frequent a working men’s club in Camden which was known as a hub of IRA activity at the time. He was said to be so pally with the republicans who drank there that it allegedly led to him being given the nickname ‘The Quartermaster’. The joke among local Labour figures was that he was so involved he must have had his own quasi-military rank. His spokesman does not deny he was a regular visitor, but says: ‘It may have been a nickname for him as he was resourceful and in charge of budgets at the GLA.’

Read the piece in full here.