"I've never seen anything like it!"

"Although she only entered parliament in 2005, Thornberry has been a Labour member since she was 17. Her parents, a teacher and a law professor at the LSE, divorced when she was seven. She remembers the bailiffs who ejected them from their home, and moving with her mother and siblings to social housing in Guildford. They were raised on benefits, secondhand clothes, free school dinners, food parcels; often, she says, they couldn't afford to heat the house. Her mother became a Labour councillor and later a mayor; she joined the party, she says, because "it wasn't fair that things had been so hard". "

Ana, a quote from an article in the Guardian on Tuesday 19th May 2009. Written by Aida Edemariam, who followed Thornberry round her constituency for a week. Are you saying that she's lying too? Oh, sorry, you did not use that word, did you?

Roses, I think that is a despicable thing to say about Emily Thornberry.

A great many politicians and people in the public eye exaggerate some aspects of their upbringing/background/circumstances.

What despicable thing was it that rosesarered said about ET? That she was pushed, rather than jumped? I thought that was common knowledge.

If the story about her upbringing is true - and I've no reason to disbelieve it- it's even more astonishing what she tweeted about that house.

So do you disbelieve Alan Johnson as well, Ana?

Lilygran, what did she tweet about the house?

For heavens sake; she's a woman who did something rather stupid that she now must regret with every part of her being. She's not Vlad the Impaler; this is like a witch hunt. How long will it be before the press start digging up unsavoury things about her 'victim' as well I wonder.

Good grief we seem to be going round in circles. I now see that several people, and Iam64 most succinctly, said what I wanted to say on Friday 21st so I could have saved myself a lot of trouble by keeping off this thread.

rosequartz and rosesarered you are both right that my comment about 'expecting no better from a conservative politician' was judgmental and unfair. Whilst I will never agree with Tory politics I am sure there are some decent, honourable MPs from that party.

I fear this discussion reflects what is now going on within the Labour Party over this incident. Some like Ed Miliband and Frank Field who do seem to understand the damage Emily Thornberry has done, and others who don't. It could be disastrous so close to the General Election.

Ah, the general election, I cannot wait !

Good [and honest] post nightowl.

She made a serious error of judgement to post as she did. As an MP she should always think hard about any remark she makes, anywhere.

It might well have been the sort of thing I would comment on and it really is rather snide, but I am not a politician trying to win friends, influence people and appear as though my judgement could be trusted.

She has screwed up in just the same manner as the MP who sent photos of his willy to someone.

I think it's another "mountain out of a molehill" developed via social media.
And directed against the Labour Party by the rightwing media press.
The UK is becoming more and more like the USA , digging the dirt pre-election.
I bet there's a newly created governmental department set up to nose out nasty stories against the opposition.

Tweeting is mass media immediately.

No digging required.

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. ( rosesarered )

If I haven't understood - and that is just your opinion - then remember the quote

Remember…the single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. ~ Unknown

- It may not be my reading of what was said just the fact that it wasn't made clear. I do notice your are being quite opinionated about anyone who disagrees with you though.

Was she actually criticising the flags being draped on the house, or the fact that local residents are so against Immigrants, and for UKIP?

She's probably got a very good point.

SOON, 18.14

On face value the photo and caption tweeted with it were not offensive. If tweeted by Reckless it would have been seen as a celebration of impending UKIP success and it would not have been seen as a 'cuss' for the working man but recognition!

Just because I / MPs may not have:
*lived in a council house
*needed to claim benefits
*struggled as badly as others to make ends meet etc. etc.
does not mean I/MPs cannot empathise /understand how difficult /different that might be and be committed to trying to improve day to day life for those not having as easy time as others.
I do think that nowadays there are too few MPs who have 'working class' roots (ie their own experience) and too many who have had highly privileged family backgrounds and that is not representative of the electorate. I do think the Labour party could do more at local levels. Where I live is Tory heartland (Jeremy Hunt) and there is nothing locally to tell the local white 'working class', of whom there is a significant minority, that Labour has anything to offer them. There is no local profile and it has left a vacuum for UKIP to fill... even though they don't really give a fig for white van man and his three flags beyond his vote. Can't imagine Nigel ( or David C) intinctively wanting to be his best mate. (ps my SiL drives a white van!)

P.S. can I say that if people live in houses worth £1m+ they may not necessarily be 'posh trots' . The tiny £8000 maisonette my DH & I bought as young teachers (because only the GLC would give a mortgage on it) now sells for £600k. Property prices in London are bonkers!

rosesarered durhamjen's comment about the selling off of flats that have been rented to low income essential workers may have veered off the point - but then that often happens in these sorts of discussions.

The flats from which these families are to be evicted (because the American private equity company that purchased them is upping the rent from £600 to £2,400) are private properties on private land. Hackney Council therefore has no responsibility to re-home them and there is every possibility that many of them will have to uproot completely and leave London.

You say that you have "better things to worry about" - presumably you think someone tweeting a photo of a house falls into the "better things" category.

What Emily did www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/nov/23/emily-thornberry-damaged-labour-election-prospects-rochester-tweet

nightowl thank you for that post of Sun 23-Nov-14 17:26:06

There are many decent politicians in all parties, and I wish we could get all the decent ones to form a coalition that would work together for the good of the country as a whole!

I do think, though, that there are some who will 'embellish' the facts of their background to make themselves more appealing to whichever part of the electorate they hope will vote them in. Someone said ambition is the driving force and I think I agree with that.

I still think, if what ET claims is true, it is appalling that a father could desert his family and leave them destitute when he was obviously earning a very large salary and at the top of his profession. Feckless fathers are not just found on sink estates.

I know several youngsters (peers of my DDs) who before Uni Fees as they are now, got full grants because parents were divorced.
Fathers were wealthy but their salary did not count in estimating household income. One of the ways the have , have!

Having worked as a legal secretary, it was my experience that many husbands/fathers found every way possible to get out of paying maintenance to their wives and children, irrespective of how well off they were.

Nelliemoser I really can't see how you can equate an incident in which an older married man sends photos of his penis to a young woman, accompanied by lewd comments, with that of somebody photographing a house.

Lilygran, that is not what she tweeted. That is other people's response to what she tweeted, after having discussed it with their head office. That is other people making far more of it than it was, including Miliband.

Not quite sure how well off he was in 1967, when he left them, rosequartz.
He was 30 years old so had probably only just qualified. Not that it justifies it; just saying. She does not seem to blame him for their poverty in anything I've read, just states it as a fact. Maybe she'd rather not remember too much about it.