According to a 2015 report in The Times, the remarks were made at a public meeting of 100 people – including members of the IRA – at a pub in New Cross, South London in 1986 – at the height of the Troubles. The event was reportedly documented in a local newspaper, the Deptford & Peckham Mercury, which claims Mr McDonnell was addressing the meeting on behalf of the self-styled Labour committee on Ireland. A Sinn Fein councillor from Northern Ireland was reportedly a guest speaker.

The local newspaper report reads: “Mr McDonnell went on to describe the Lewisham Labour councillors who had boycotted the meeting as ‘gutless wimps’ and joked that ‘kneecapping might help to change their minds’.”

Mr McDonnell was speaking as part of a tour by Sinn Fein of Labour councils in London that he had helped to organise.

When contacted by The Times in 2015, a spokesman said Mr McDonnell had no recollection of making the remarks.

The spokesman said: “John has no recollection of making these remarks. This quote is clearly taken out of context – John rejects all forms of violence and has done so all his political career.

“The approaches to Sinn Fein and the delegation were organised and publicised extensively at the time to commence the process of initiating a dialogue to secure a peace settlement. And we now know that behind the scenes the then government was also communicating with republicans with the same objective.

“John has also been a long-standing campaigner for peace in Northern Ireland and advocated speaking to Sinn Fein as part of a peace process long before it became accepted practice.”

Political activist Diarmuid Breatnach, who also organised the meeting, told The Times: “I do recall him making some throwaway but unfortunate remark about kneecapping in the context of the rate-capping that the Conservative government was introducing at the time.”

Mr McDonnell’s comments came just two years after an IRA bomb killed four people at the Grand Hotel in Brighton during the Conservative Party conference – while Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was present.

After his alleged speech in New Cross, the IRA continued their bombing campaign, killing civilians in the process.

For example, in 1987, 11 people were killed on Remembrance Sunday when an IRA bomb was detonated at the war memorial in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland.

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Mr McDonnell was 35 years old at the time and had already served as deputy Labour leader of the Greater London Council when he made the speech.

In September 2015, Mr McDonnell apologised on Question Time for any offence caused by his remarks on the IRA.

In March 2019, ahead of the Scottish Labour Conference, he admitted that his previous comments in support of the IRA helped foster religious division.

The Labour politician told the Daily Record: “I suppose I am part of it really. We are all learning lessons about how we should live with each other and respect different traditions.

“I’ve apologised for some of the statements I’ve made in the past. You just have to understand that and appreciate it. And if you feel you have said something that was not appropriate or was wrong, it is best to hold your hand up.”

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Mr McDonnell also claimed his views had been shaped by the experience of growing up as a Catholic in Liverpool.

He added: “If you look at my home town of Liverpool even as a young child, I remember the divisions in that city.

“Now these divisions have largely healed. There is a celebration of Irish culture, in all its aspects, in Liverpool. It gives me hope you can override these sectarian divisions.

“The way the Irish community has come together in Liverpool is an example to others and one I am quite proud of. People are willing to talk now in a way they did not in the past and I think it is the same in Scotland.

“That was the result of a lot of work, a combination of civic and religious leaders coming together. The two cathedrals in Liverpool do not stand for sectarianism any more. They stand for two churches bringing people and congregations together.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn appointed Mr McDonnell as his Shadow Chancellor in 2015.

Alongside Mr Corbyn, Mr McDonnell is seen as a key figure in the left-wing party.

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