2.INTERVIEW WITH JOHN MCDONNELL

John McDonnell, MP Interview

Katie Goodall/The Hayes and Harlington Gazette/October 2007

MP


JOHN McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington describes himself as: "Hard working, confident and committed." Brunel graduate Mr McDonnell has a hectic schedule of attending parliament, updating his blog (see http://www.johnmcdonnell.org.uk/about-john.html), writing articles for the national press, and campaigning for the local community.

Politics is a career he says he "drifted into, rather than planned" because he became involved in many community events, resulting in him climbing the political ladder to becoming an MP. He said: "I am a socialist, and believe in equality for all people."

Being an Uxbridge resident who lives 15 minutes away from Hayes, I was curious to know if anything was being done about the lack of a shopping centre in Hayes Town. He replied: "I am the Chair of the Board, and we've been working on it for 10 years."

He added: "There are many core shops such as Iceland, Wilkinsons and Woolworths, but the town is still suffering after the closure of Sainsburys."

Two weeks ago the Hayes & Harlington Gazette covered the Crossrail development. Mr McDonnell said: "I support Crossrail because it is a major aid to redevelop the lives of people. In 20 minutes you can get from Hayes to Central London. It will open up the access for many people across to the East.

It will provide more job opportunities for people in Hayes to find jobs in London. It will also increase people's enjoyment, as they can travel into London more easily for entertainment and go to restaurants. There has been a dramatic improvement since Ken Livingstone became Mayor of London."

McDonnell is also involved in local community radio stations. He said: "Yes I listen to Hayes FM, and I would definitely talk on it. I was involved in the planning process, and worked with Sutish [Sharma] to raise funds, and gain the licence. It was going to be at Uxbridge College, but they had no room.

I was involved with Desi Radio in Southall. I really enjoy the wide range of music on Hayes FM. I was meant to go down to Hospital Radio Hillingdon during the broadcast marathon, but I had a meeting."

When asked about the recent story in the press about MPs jumping the dinner queue, he responded: "That's rubbish, total nonsense. Yes, I saw that article. As a socialist, I believe in equality for all people, and I would never jump a queue."

Ends

Visit John McDonnell's website to view more information about his campaigns and read his blog by clicking on the link below.
http://www.johnmcdonnell.org.uk/about-john.html

REFLECTIVE REPORT: JOHN MCDONNELL

I interviewed Hayes and Harlington MP John McDonnell as part of a class assignment for the Central Government module. We were set the task of conducting a 10 minute telephone interview with our local MP to develop our telephone skills and build up our local contacts in October.

I was on my work placement at the Gazette and emailed reporters Hannah Falkingham and John Hugil to see if they could give me any contact details for the local MPs. Hannah replied with the telephone numbers of John Randall, Uxbridge MP, Nick Hurd, Ruislip MP and John McDonnell.

I rang McDonnell. He was my first choice, but there had been no answer on his mobile. I left a message and rang him again while I went into the Gazette office on Monday to finish an article. Luckily he remembered me when I phoned and was very happy to answer my questions.

I decided to target the questions more specifically towards Hayes and Mr McDonnell's involvement in Hayes from the community radio station 91.8 Hayes FM to the Crossrail development rather than ask conventional questions such as what do you do in a typical day?

My mission was to find out how Hayes has progressed since McDonnell has been an MP with the power to help implement positive changes to a diverse town.

I am happy with my interview because McDonnell answered all of my questions to write a 400 word interview. In fact the conversation was very informal, and I gained enough information to write at least 700 words, so I had the task of editing it to select the best quotes.

McDonnell said I could ring him again in the future if I needed to know anything else, therefore I gained a valuable contact too.

The interview is published on my main blog see: http://uxbridgereporterkatie.blogspot.com/search?q=john+mcdonnell