People thought Corbyn and I would crash the pound. The real risk was Truss and her fanatics | John McDonnell

We knew the markets would react sharply to us and were prepared for that. These free-market zealots had no plan at all

Watching the events since the introduction of the Not a Budget", I have sat with my head in my hands. You could almost weep for the lasting consequences of this show of arrogance, ideological obstinacy and incompetence. People's homes, pensions and the public services they rely upon are all now at serious risk. It's hard to comprehend just how badly they misjudged the situation and how little they prepared for taking over the highest offices of state.

In his brilliant book The Great Crash, 1929, the economist JK Galbraith advises that to avoid a crash in the future you should put in place a vast range of institutional protections, but that the most important protection is memory.

John McDonnell has been the Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington since 1997. He was shadow chancellor from 2015 to 2020