Donate

Emily Thornberry is everything that’s wrong with Labour

She sums up the sneering contempt that Labour now has for working-class people.

spiked

Topics Brexit Politics UK

Want to read spiked ad-free? Become a spiked supporter.

Labour leadership hopeful Emily Thornberry was hauled over the coals on The Andrew Neil Show last night. In particular, she was pressed on her sneering attitude towards working-class voters.

Footage from an event called ‘Love Socialism, Hate Brexit’ last year shows Thornberry laughing at her colleague Dawn Butler’s suggestion that ‘If you don’t hate Brexit, even if you voted for it, there’s something wrong with you’. Neil accused her of ‘joining in the sneering at Brexit voters’.

It’s not the first time that Thornberry, who lives in a £2million house in Islington with her husband Sir Christopher Nugee QC, has been accused of turning her nose up at working-class people – all the while standing for a party that is supposed to represent them.

In 2014, the Islington South MP infamously tweeted a picture of a house with England flags and a white van outside, giving it the caption ‘Image from Rochester’. She was forced to resign from the shadow cabinet. The resident of that house branded her a ‘snob’, telling the Sun that Labour MPs ‘need to get out of their mansions and visit the working class’.

During the 2017 election, Thornberry suggested voters were more interested in Theresa May’s hair than policy. ‘It is not good enough for people to be saying “I like Theresa May’s hair”, or “I like that shade of blue”. Politics is not about that’, she said on ITV’s Peston, delivering a stern rebuke to the supposedly superficial public.

Enjoying Spiked?

You can now give spiked an (almost!) instant donation without leaving the page, using GooglePay or ApplePay.

Please wait...
Thank you!

Following Labour’s catastrophic defeat at the 2019 General Election, former Labour MP Caroline Flint claimed that Thornberry had recently told a colleague representing a northern, pro-Leave seat that ‘I’m glad my voters aren’t as stupid as yours’. (Though Thornberry strongly denies this and has threatened legal action against Flint.)

Emily Thornberry’s sneering contempt for the masses sums up everything that’s wrong with the Labour Party today. For all the internal debate about whether Labour needs to leave behind Corbynism or Blairism or both, it is Thornberryism that most urgently needs exorcising.

Picture by: Getty.

Celebrate 25 years of spiked!

A media ecosystem dominated by a handful of billionaire owners, bad actors spreading disinformation online and the rich and powerful trying to stop us publishing stories. But we have you on our side. help to fund our journalism and those who choose All-access digital enjoy exclusive extras:

  1. Unlimited articles in our app and ad-free reading on all devices
  2. Exclusive newsletter and far fewer asks for support
  3. Full access to the Guardian Feast app

If you can, please support us on a monthly basis and make a big impact in support of open, independent journalism. Thank you.

Please wait...

Comments

Want to join the conversation?

Only spiked supporters and patrons, who donate regularly to us, can comment on our articles.

Join today