Does Labour really need to 'repair' its relationship with the City? | James Meadway

The party's dealings with finance have always been tricky. These are the three issues the opposition should keep in mind

Reports in the Financial Times that Labour's new shadow City minister wants to repair bridges" with Britain's financial services industry read oddly to me. I remember accompanying the then shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, on his tea offensive" meetings with City figures - with the emphasis on the cups of tea and digestive biscuits, rather than the offence.

McDonnell had the great advantage of dramatically low expectations among the bigwigs of high finance, who (as he joked to them) would turn up half-expecting to be sent to a re-education camp by the end of the meeting. They actually left, as far as could be told, pleasantly surprised. But behind the joke, and McDonnell's personal charm, was a serious attempt to address the issue that any Labour shadow chancellor or chancellor will run up against: what is the party's relationship to finance?