"I've never seen anything like it!"

Soontobe

She was there canvassing for Labour on the day of the election.

No Islington is a high end living area.

I think I'm right in saying she moved into her home at about the same time as the Blair's, the same street possibly, just going from memory so I could be wrong.

POGS Islington is the 8th most deprived area in the country with one of the highest proportion of social tenants and relatively few home owners.

"Raised on benefits, secondhand clothes and food parcels, Emily Thornberry joined the Labour party at the age of 17 because she believed that “it wasn’t fair that things had been so hard”.

She went on to become a human rights lawyer and in 2005 a member of parliament, when she was elected by a majority of under 500 votes to represent Islington South and Finsbury, a north London constituency with large disparities in wealth which has sometimes been seen as a metaphor for New Labour.

While her mother was a teacher and her father an international lawyer who taught at the London School of Economics, Thornberry has described a far from comfortable childhood after they divorced when she was seven and she and her siblings moved to social housing in Guildford with her mother, who later became a Labour councillor and mayor."

Just for you, Ana, as I know you do not like reading my links.
The relevant bit is in the first paragraph, just in case you cannot be bothered to read further.

Thank you Miceelf for the timely reminder that the Labour Party was "founded to secure for the workers by hand or by brain the just rewards for their labour and the equitable distribution thereof." This, Nightowl is what I was commenting on. Many posts, seem to be saying "hand - backbone of society, brain - never done a days work in their lives".

If those who labour for their bread and yes, sometimes butter and jam, or sadly sometimes for their poverty, cannot hang together then a blatant capital driven economy will thrive.

Where was the great outpouring of media indignation when UKIP councillor Tom Bursnall (formerly Chair of the Young Tories) suggested that unemployed people shouldn't be allowed to vote? Does that sound very respectful to you?

Thanks for elucidating Gracesgran. I'm still not sure where anyone said that it is only those who work with their hands that count as workers (or something along those lines). However I was brought up to know that manual work was the least well paid and the least well valued work there was, and that my ticket out of that was education to enable me to work with my brain. It was in that sense that I referred to generic 'white van man' as the descendant of the working class men I knew. Of course, that is a huge generalisation because there is no reason why white van man may not be a highly educated and prosperous business man, but anyway.....

^Perhaps we should all start putting English flags up and completely confound UKIP in their search for potential converts! grin

Perhaps I won't do that, whenim, as an English person living in Wales

I would have expected no better from a conservative politician. nightowl that sounds like a very prejudiced view!

I think very many labour politicians are completely out of touch with what could be termed 'normal life' for many of the UK population. In fact, many politicians of all parties are completely out of touch, that is why Nigel's blokey image (and I think it is a carefully constructed image as are the images of most politicians) has gone down so well because he knows exactly what is worrying many sections of the general public.

Where was the great outpouring of media indignation when UKIP councillor Tom Bursnall (formerly Chair of the Young Tories) suggested that unemployed people shouldn't be allowed to vote? Does that sound very respectful to you?

Neither is respectful.

The Labour MP shot her party in the foot.
She sounded like some Conservative MPs.

Not sure why you would have 'expected no better' nightowl from a Conservative MP, that's a bit judgemental isn't it? Not all Tory MP's went to Eton and Oxbridge, just as plenty of Labour MP's DID go to Eton and Oxbridge.Which presumably makes them look down on white van man just the same in most cases. Only it was a Labour MP who was crass enough to post pictures of his house on Twitter [and think it was perfectly alright to make fun of him and his family.] Just as Gordon Brown looked down on a working class woman and called her a bigot.Nobody can be naive enough to think that Labour MP's embrace working class people and their values? Even if it were true once upon a time [and I'm not sure about that] it certainly isn't the case now.

Gracesgran For this she has been castigated as posh, when in fact she has worked hard and pulled herself up the ladder of life

I would have considered the daughter of the Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations to be 'posh', but then perhaps other people may not think so. I suppose she prefers not to use her title of 'Lady Nugee' as it doesn't fit in with the image of a Labour politician.
She claims that she was brought up on benefits in a council house, which, if true, is quite shocking as surely her father would have been well able to afford to fund his family even in a modest way - presumably he left his wife and three children to fend for themselves even though his salary would have been considerable.

Excellent post POGS [this whole post is irony........] it makes me and others I suspect, laugh to see how some posters try and deflect blame and turn things around! There is no turning this around I'm afraid, so for anyone supporting Labour, just 'take the shame' on this one. Then we will move on.

I am more worried about what is happening in the neighbouring borough of Hackney, where a conservative MP, Richard Benyon, is selling off rented flats, New Era, to an American private equity group called Westbrook Partners. The new owners want to put the rents up to £2400 per month from £600 for a two bedroomed flat, and those who cannot pay will be out by Christmas.

Maybe Emily Thornberry was right to resign as she became the story, detracting our attention from more important news. She is, after all, a human rights lawyer, and possibly thought that other people needed the column inches in newspapers which have been given over to her tweet.

As Eloethan has suggested, there are a lot of journalists who appear to be able to read Thornberry's mind, considering what the tweet said.

Tegan
No one seems to have forgiven us for slavery and having an empire
It was in fact The British Empire, not The English Empire.

djen
Does that not worry you? People get the politicians they deserve. If they wish to be conned, they will be.

But they have always promised and not delivered or promised then backtracked.

I can't believe that we truly deserve the whole lot of politicians we have nowadays.

Reading further on the ET matter, it does seem as though her hand was rather forced on the 'resignation' issue. Ed Miliband made it clear that was what was expected of her.

No need for sarcasm, durhamjen. Your quote doesn't actually prove the benefits and food parcels story.

roses at your post - were you mindreading the post after yours?

It is going to be very hard now for Labour to make the working class v rich distinction coming up to the General Election.
That has always been a platform of theirs.

Well, I am truly shocked then, djen if ET was raised on benefits, second-hand clothes and food parcels. Her father must have been extremely irresponsible, and I would almost feel sorry for her if I hadn't seen her on Question Time a few weeks ago and thought how unbearably smug and unpleasant she was (and I had never heard of her before then, it was before this present incident).

durhamjen you amaze me, you should have gone into politics yourself, because you manage to deflect whatever is thrown at you, by attacking the Conservatives [usually, sometimes it's the Lib Dems]and now you are 'worried' about some private enterprise in rented flats!I don't know about you, but I have more pressing things to worry about.
All this about Emily Thornberry's poor ubbringing is probably rubbish, and even if true [highly dubious] just means she should have known better, there is no wriggle room on this issue, and I also doubt that she nobly fell on her sword and resigned, more likely told to go in no uncertain tones.

Gracesgran after reading all the posts on this page it's obvious that you haven't understood a word of what nightowl was trying to say.

So, roses, you are not worried about rent rises from £600 to £2400 per month. The flats concerned were built by the Lever family so that teaching assistants, construction workers and NHS staff could live close to where they work. Can't remember where you live, but I do hope it's not in inner London.

Ana, are you saying that you only believe things that you've heard from the person concerned and that is the only proof you will accept? That sounds a bit ridiculous to me.

djen perhaps you could start another thread on that as it doesn't seem to have much to do with this thread, except a deflection from what Emily Thornberry has done.

Unless, of course, she is charging too-high rents on some of the properties she owns in London and the South-East.

Are you saying that you believe everything that's written about someone, durhamjen? That seems even more ridiculous to me.

durhamjen, I too think the selling off of social housing to an American equity firm is a disgrace and I signed the Change.org petition on this very matter recently, shame on the Tory MP involved.

However, quoting from today's Sunday Times, "During a high profile campaign in which ET was seeking more social housing for people living in Islington, it emerged that her husband had snapped up a former council property in nearby Clerkenwell for more than £500,000 as a rental investment", although she argued that it was to stick young Labour party activists in, Nevertheless, I think properties that have been designated for low income families should not be sold off to private speculators, whoever they may be.

Durhamjen while accepting that you have some heartfelt beliefs [politics] you must accept that we are not all the same and that also it's not always a case of 4 legs good, 2 legs bad [Animal Farm.]In your case, 2 legs always being the Conservatives.Sometimes, as in the case of Emily Thornberry, it's 4 legs bad.
I'm off to look at the book club now, or possibly style and beauty or food, something soothing.